The Uchiha Pride
by namikazeNatsumi
Summary: Sasuke's brother, Itachi massacred the whole Uchiha clan, along with his best friend who also happened to be his first love. Or so he thought. How will Sasuke react when faced with the truth of what happened? Rating K for minor language, OC, XOver Bleach
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters are by no means mine

**Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters are by no means mine **

**WARNING MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD!!**

**Please read Author's Notes at the end of this chapter. Thank You )**

Chapter 1

"_Sasu-Chan!!" A 7-year-old blonde haired blue-eyed girl shouted to a smiling 7-year-old raven boy sitting by the lake. _

"_Hn." Said boy showed off his trademark Uchiha© smirk._

"_What are you doing?" the girl questioned him._

"_Nothing much."_

"_Yeah right. You're sweating and covered in ashes. You've been practicing your Katon haven't you?" She said as she sat beside him._

"_Hn." He answered, turning away from her, looking at the still blue lake._

"_You know, you shouldn't push yourself like this. I know Fuugaku-jisama is pretty hard on you, but he does love you, you know? Ita-nii too." She told him with a slight worry in her tone._

_The boy's smirk dropped a bit into a slight pout. _No, Uchiha men are NOT allowed to pout._ His pout drew back into a flat unemotional glower. "Ita-nii was able to do this jutsu when he was my age, I'm an Uchiha too, I should also be able to master it." He answered her._

"_Sasu-Chan, it's not a competition you know. Mastering a jutsu takes time and you'll get it when you're ready."_

"_Easy for you to say, you're as much as a genius as Ita-nii is."  
_

"_Pfft… Me?! A genius?! Are you kidding me? I had to practice day and night for months and months just to get one jutsu right." She laughed._

"_Yeah, when you were like what? 4 years old?!" He scoffed jokingly._

"…"

"_See?! You are a genius. No one, not even Ita-nii learned a jutsu when he was that young."_

"… _Fine then. I'm just… different."_

"_Hn"_

"_Don't give me that look. I swear that look is hereditary."_

"_Hn" he smirked._

"_Geez, that 'hn' thing, is that a family tradition too?"_

_Glare_

_The girl laughed and raised her arms in surrender. "Just kidding… Anyway, I gotta go home, Naru-chan is craving ramen… AGAIN…I have to go home and cook some with vegetables in it before he scoffs down a dozen instant ramen."_

"_Hn, when does your brother __not__ eat that trash?!"_

"_Never… I guess it's like his comfort food."_

"_But surely one doesn't eat comfort food for every meal of every day."_

"… _Touché." _

"_Hn" he smirks._

"_I have to go now. I'll see you later ne?"_

"_Yea." He smiled._

"_Ja Sasu-Chan!!" She waved goodbye as she ran home._

- The Next Day -

_Hokage's Office_

"_You both understand what your mission is, yes?"_

"_Hai, Hokage-sama." The 7-year-old girl replied, standing in her 17-year-old henge form in an ANBU uniform, standing beside her, her ANBU partner and co-captain. Clad in his ANBU uniform, stood Uchiha Itachi._

"_Now all that's cleared up, prepare for your mission. You're both dismissed."_

_With that note, both shinobis bowed their respect and exited the room._

_Night of Uchiha Massacre_

_Sasuke walked home with a bounce in his step. He was excited to tell his parents and his nii-san that he was elected top male student of his year group and he finally mastered the Katon: Gyougaku no Jutsu that his father and brother taught him. He was oblivious to his eerie surroundings until he finally stopped dead in his tracks. He noticed something felt…odd. He could smell something metallic; and it was completely overwhelmed his senses. He felt like throwing up. He quickly ran to his house, the Uchiha Main house and instantly shouted for his parents._

"_KAA-SAN!! JI-SAN!! Where are you?" He continued to look around until he reached his father's private study. The door was closed and he could see something red flowing through the cracks of the door. He hesitantly reached out to slide the door open, wincing at the thought of what he knew he would see beyond the door. He slowly opened the door and looked up to find flashing red eyes staring at him from the darkness. Sharingan. Oh God, no, no, no. An Uchiha did this. The man stepped out of the shadow to reveal… Itachi. Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise._

"_Nii-san, what happened?" He looked down to see the corpses of his mother and father. _Oh God, what happened here?_ "Nii-san who did this? Why are Kaa-san and Ji-san dead?" Sasuke shifted his gaze back on the floor to find another corpse. It was a girl with long blonde hair. _OH GOD! NO! Natsumi!_ "Natsumi! Nii-san please tell me, what happened, why is Natsumi dead too?"_

_Itachi chuckled darkly, "Foolish little brother. You want to know who did this? Let me tell you. I did."_

"_W-why?" He stuttered._

"_Simple little brother, I want power and they were in my way." He smirked and the tomoe of his Sharingan spun, bringing Sasuke into a genjutsu._

_Sasuke screamed as he saw his brother's replay of the massacre, how he had slain every last Uchiha. Suddenly, Sasuke was brought out of the illusion and on the main streets of the Uchiha Compound, tears streaming down his face._

"_Foolish brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, __and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life. And one day, when you have the same eyes I do, come before me." With that said, Itachi left his mentally scarred brother behind and left the village, meeting up with his now raven-haired, raven-eyed team-mate to leave behind their previous lives._

_Natsumi turned back one last time. _Gomen Naruto, Sasuke… I'll miss you both._ She turned around to follow her team-mate out of the village, with a tear rolling down her cheek._

_Sasuke dropped to his knees, the genjutsu finally dissipating as Itachi was out of the village perimeters. _No, this isn't real. How could he?! He killed everyone I loved. Mother, Father and… Natsumi. _At the thought of the blonde-haired girl, the torrent of tears he shed sped up, she was his best friend, the only girl and person in general that accepted him for who he really was, she never stalked him like the other fan girls, no, she was genuine, she actually cared about him, she was his first love. How was he going to tell Naruto that his psycho brother killed Sasuke's entire clan and also his (Naruto's) twin sister? Cupping his face in his hands, he screamed out at the top of his lungs. "NOOOOO!!"_

10 Years Later

- Uchiha Warehouse -

"I'm sorry little brother, there won't be a next time." A smiling and dying Itachi came up to a battle-worn Sasuke, tapping his index and middle finger onto his younger brother's forehead, just like when they were younger. Itachi's eyes became blank as he started to drop onto the ground, after their battle to the death.

Sasuke's eyes were wide with terror as he initially presumed Itachi would gouge out his eyes while he was in a vulnerable position. He didn't know if he should feel relieved, satisfied or regretful. He had finally accomplished his life-long mission of killing his brother and avenging his clan and his first love. He felt a tug of regret at his heart. Shouldn't he feel more… happy… that his bastard of a brother finally died in his hands? He was so tired. He felt himself slipping to the ground beside his brother, unconsciousness creeping up to him, dragging him into a long slumber.

Sasuke woke up in an unfamiliar place. He tried to lift his upper body up from the bed or whatever he was lying down on. Suddenly an unfamiliar voice called out to him.

"You're finally awake."

"Hn."

"What a typical Uchiha answer."

"Who are you?" He glared at the man wearing the orange swirl mask.

"My name is Uchiha Madara."

"You're an Uchiha?"

"Yes, I am. One of the first actually."

"…" Sasuke continued to glare at the man.

"Which makes me your great great grandfather."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Gawd, I just made myself sound so old."

"Hn."

"Is that a habit of yours?"

"What do you want with me?"

"You know it's not polite to answer a question with another question."

"Why did you help me?"

"I thought I should share with you something about Itachi that you don't know about."

"…"

Madara started to take off his mask. Sasuke's eyes started to bleed red and his Sharingan blazed, Mangekyou activated. Madara saw this and put his mask back on.

"I see your brother gave you some protection before he died."

"…"

"Your brother did not kill the clan out of hatred." Sasuke instantly glared at the man. "He did it because he was ordered to." Madara continued.

"What do you mean?"

"Konoha ordered for the annihilation of the Uchiha clan because it was getting powerful and could easily destroy the whole Fire Country."

Sasuke stiffened at the answer.

"Your brother did it so there wouldn't be a Fourth Ninja War. He left you alive because he wanted to give you all his powers. Uchiha siblings are special, they share a bond. I'm sure Itachi has mentioned this to you before his death. If you take your sibling's eyes, all their powers will be transferred to you. You will instantly 'upgrade' your Sharingan ability. He was praying earnestly so you would come to him sooner and kill him so he can transfer all his powers to you. He's been sick and dying this whole time. He's doped himself up on medication just so he can stay alive long enough to die in your hands. He didn't spare your life on a whim. He planned all this out so that in the end you would be powerful enough to defeat your enemies."

"Enough! Lies, all lies."

"Hn, you didn't know your brother at all. He killed everyone he loved, his mother, his father, his friends, and his girlfriend, but he couldn't kill you. Isn't that proof enough? Do you still not get it?"

"…"

"He valued your life over the village. He loved you and let himself suffer for your well-being. He let you kill him, defeat him, so that in the eyes of the village, you are the hero and he would be the villain. All for his beloved little brother."

A tear rolled down Sasuke's cheeks.

"He pushed you to the point where you were completely desperate for power that your hidden parasite finally showed himself. Itachi wanted to free you from Orochimaru. To protect the village and most importantly you, he lived as a fugitive, a traitor, a criminal, praying for the release of death. He traded his pride for disgrace and your love for your hatred, even so, Itachi died with a smile on his face. He left the name of Uchiha to you and deceived you to the very end."

Sasuke stood on a rock, looking at the crashing of the waves, while replaying the words that Madara told him in his mind. He finally broke down and cried, mourning for the loss of his beloved brother, the brother that has protected and watched out for him, even without him realising it. _What have I done?_

Sasuke was determined to get payback for what Konoha has done. His new mission was to destroy Konoha, for destroying his life. _You will all pay for what you've done to my loved ones._

**A.N. Ok so since the first four chappies are short, I shall be kind and give you kiddies all four chapters now. I based most of this story on the original storyline of Shippuuden (from Manga), so I apologize for any spoilers. ****I'm currently having writer's block. Please don't flame. If you wanna criticize, do so nicely. I haven't written creative writing for more than 4 years so I'm a bit rusty. If you have any suggestions regarding what you want to see next in the installment, feel free to leave your ideas. I will try to accomodate everyone's likes as much as I can, although I can't guarantee it. Please rate and review!! I need motivation to continue this story... I don't know what to write anymore... stupid writer's block... Oh P.S. I have left an extra bonus chappie to explain some stuff about the OC's. I may not be able to mention all of them in the story but at least you guys will know what I'm talking about. Ok... Enough of my rambling! On with the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters are by no means mine

**Disclaimer: Naruto****, Bleach and its characters are by no means mine **

Previously on The Uchiha Pride

_Sasuke was determined to get payback for what Konoha has done. His new mission was to destroy Konoha, for destroying his life. __You will all pay for what you've done to my loved ones._

Chapter 2

- A Few Weeks Later -

Sasuke and his team of Karin, Juugo and Suigetsu have now officially joined Akatsuki. Their mission was now to retrieve the Eight Tailed Beast.

The hachibi has finally shown its true form, Sasuke, still battle-worn from his previous battles with Deidara and Itachi consecutively, is now at his limit. Not even Karin could help him; all three of his team mates were in as bad of a condition as he was. _I'm going to die here. Hn. We're going to die here. How ironic. _Sasuke's thoughts were pushed aside when he saw the beast collecting its chakra into a black ball, while compressing it at the same time. He swallowed it and released it. Just before the chakra sphere hit all four of them, a stranger stood in front of them and blocked the attack, sucking the chakra into her palm.

"That's ENOUGH!" She shouted. Sasuke could just see the bulge on the stranger's stomach, telling him she was indeed a SHE, since she's pregnant. The raven-haired stranger shouted at the beast, "Killer Bee, ENOUGH! Transform back into yourself before I make you."

"Gawd, you're such a spoilt-sport Na." The beast exclaimed as he returned back into his jinchuuriki form, walking towards the stranger. "These brats were practically asking for it."

"Still, it doesn't mean you should go parading your demon!"

"They were begging me to kick their asses. Who am I to deprive them of such a request?"

"Killer Bee!"

"Alright, alright, I'll lay off. But it they try to kill me again, I will not be held responsible for my actions."

"Fine. If that should occur, I'll make sure they won't succeed in killing you."

"Whatever. I got bigger fish to fry. Ja!" the eight tailed demon vessel turned around, and started walking back towards his house, saluting as he left the destroyed field.

The stranger turned around and looked at the four shinobi lying on the ground, with a slight tick on her face. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU IDIOTS THINKING?! You could have gotten yourselves killed. NO ONE can fight when they are as worn out as you lot, ESPECIALLY against a BLOODY JINCHUURIKI."

"Holy moley you've gotten fat Na." Suigetsu suggested. The tick on the stranger's forehead seemed to get bigger.

"I'M NOT FAT YOU IDIOT! I'm PREGNANT! There is a difference." She all but shouted at the puddle on the ground that was Suigetsu. She turned towards Karin. "And you, Karin. Out of all the members of this team I would have expected you to be the one to convince Sasuke to stay in bed for at least one day. You're a medic nin for goodness sakes. He's so worn-out I can see his wounds ALL re-opened."

"I tried, Natsu-sama. He wouldn't listen to me, he INSISTED on going as soon as possible."

"Well, you should have denied him that right then. And…"

"Excuse me, WHO are you?" Sasuke interrupted.

The stranger turned to look at him; Sasuke couldn't help but feel something familiar about this stranger. "You know, it's rude to interrupt when someone is talking."

"It's also rude to talk about someone who is sitting right here and pretend like they don't exist."

"… Touché" The stranger replied.

_That seemed a little too familiar, almost like…_

"Anyway, I was going to say Juu…" She broke off as her face changed to a horrified expression, while putting her hand on her pregnant belly. She slowly looked down, and surely enough, there was a puddle of what looked like water, pooling at her feet.

Karin immediately looked to the puddle. "Oh my God! Your water just broke."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, smarty-pants; I think she KNOWS that her water broke." Suigetsu commented.

"Shut up sharky!" Karin beamed at Suigetsu, she turned to the stranger "Has your contractions started?"

"AARGH!!" the stranger shouted.

"I guess that would be a yes then." Karin added. "I don't know if we have time to make it to…"

"There is NO WAY IN HELL that I'm going to deliver this baby in the middle of a bloody battle field." The stranger interrupted.

"But none of us has any strength left, let alone carry you to a hospital."

"I don't care!" She shouted. The stranger looked up to the sky and shouted. "SEIRYUUUUUUU!!"

In less than a second, a giant midnight blue dragon came down from the clouds and wrapped its body around the five shinobi, transporting them to what seemed like inside of the stranger's house.

Once their feet landed on the ground, the pregnant stranger fell to her knees and started breathing shallowly. A group of long haired tall men in traditional kimonos ran towards the woman in duress.

"Shujin-sama(1)!" The first silver haired man kneeled down to her level and put his arm around her shoulders. "Are you able to stand? We need to get you to the delivery room."

"Argh!" She cried out in pain. "Take the guests to the recovery tubs(2)."

"Hai." He turned to his other colleagues to signal them to bring the four worn out shinobi to the 'recovery tubs', while he and another silver haired man brought the stranger up and the first silver haired man carried the stranger bridal style to another room.

One of the raven haired men turned to four of his colleagues to tell them something, and they exited the room. He turned to the four shinobis lying on the floor and addressed them. "Uchiha-sama, if you and your team mates would like to follow us to the recovery rooms, I have sent my colleagues to prepare the tubs." He turned towards the door, with the four shinobis closely following them from behind.

- 4 Hours Later -

The four shinobis finally got out of the recovery baths, surprised to see and feel all their battle wounds completely healed. When they finally got dressed in their own clothes, after being washed, the raven haired male that brought them there entered the bath house.

"Natsu-danna has instructed me to show you to your rooms, if you would please follow me."

The four of them silently followed the man; Sasuke couldn't help but feel curious as to why this stranger would help them, and seemed to know his team mates.

"Why is your shujin helping us?"

The raven haired man looked back and smirked towards the house guest "Because you are you, Uchiha-sama." He simply stated, completely confusing all four shinobi. "Natsu-danna will be out from… recovery soon." He continued as he showed the four shinobi their respective rooms, his last stop was the lounge, which was in a nutshell… HUGE! "You may stay here or the bedroom until dinner, or if you would like, I can send someone to accompany any of you to look around the estate." With that note, the long haired man turned to the guests and bowed before he left them in the lounge.

"Holy moley, I didn't know Nami was this loaded." Suigetsu piped up.

"So what? Are you saying that if you knew sooner, you would have taken advantage of her hospitality?"

"I never said that." He curtly replied.

"How do all of you know her?" Sasuke dead-panned.

"Wait… You mean you DON'T know her?!" Karin exclaimed.

"Am I supposed to?"

"Well…" Karin trailed off

"She used to take care of us back at Oro's place…" Suigetsu replied him.

"Did you just call Orochimaru, 'Oro'?!" Karin interrupted.

"Yes, I don't like wasting my breath saying his name. Anyway… as I was saying, she used to help us, behind Oro-bastard's back. Whenever they did painful experiments or I got thoroughly pummelled she used to heal me and shit." Suigetsu continued.

"After Kimimaro's death and before you came, she used to be the one that took care of my… anger issues, then, just a few weeks before you busted me out of that cell, she left Orochimaru's compound. She seemed to be really lethargic and pale a few weeks prior her departure." Juugo added.

"She was my mentor. She was the one that taught me all my medic skills. Kabuto never taught anyone of his medic skills. She was the one that taught me my chakra transfer skill, but before she was able to teach me how to get rid of the scars from the bites, she had left Orochimaru's place." Karin piped up.

"Why was she there in the first place?" Sasuke questioned.

"I don't think anyone knew why. Not a lot of the people in the compound knew she was even there, the fact that you never knew she was there just proved my point." Karin answered. "She only kind of showed up to people that were in serious trouble." She continued. "I think she was the one that healed you whenever you were unconscious from extreme fatigue and over-training." She added.

"What…?" Sasuke trailed off, as his eyes caught sight of two toddler boys, one that had long black hair pulled back into a low ponytail, just like his father's hairstyle, he had black eyes, that Sasuke could have sworn had a familiar Uchiha-ness to it, and the other had short and spiky blonde hair with dazzling blue eyes, that looked exactly like… Naruto?! The two boys seemed to notice Sasuke's odd staring and looked at the perpetrator that had been giving them weird looks.

"Nee, nee, Fuu-Chan, that man's staring at us." The 3-year-old blonde told his counterpart raven.

"For the last time, Minato, STOP CALLING ME THAT!" The raven all but yelled.

"But calling you Fuugaku…" at stating the raven's name the blonde changed his facial expression to be extremely serious "… seems so… serious. Ne?" The blonde pouted.

"Well, at least don't use the –chan, dobe!"

"Don't call me dobe, teme!"

Sasuke seemed to snap out of his stupor, and felt slightly… nostalgic at the boys' argument. Everything seemed too familiar. He cleared his throat, and the boys instantly stopped their bickering and turned to the unfamiliar man sitting in their lounge.

"Are you mommy's guests?" The blonde asked Sasuke.

"Mommy?" Sasuke questioned.

"Yes, 'mommy', the lady with long black hair, previously very pregnant." The raven toddler answered.

"Hn."

The blonde turned to his brother, "Hey, Fuu, he's like you too, with that whole 'hn' thing. Is it contagious?"

The raven boy glared at his brother.

"Ehehehe…" The blonde grinned, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "Just kidding."

Ok, Sasuke's inner three year old was seriously freaking out, running around in circles, screaming and pulling out its chibi hair. Of course, on the outside, he still had his stoic Uchiha mask on.

"Where is your… mother?" Sasuke asked the two boys.

"She's in the chakra restoration room." The raven chibi answered.

"Do you want to see her?" The blonde piped up.

"Uh…" Sasuke stuttered.

"We can take you there to see her. Do you need to tell her something?" The blonde walked up to Sasuke, with a wide grin and pleading blue eyes.

"… Uh… Yes… I need to talk to her." Sasuke stuttered… again. _Ok, seriously, act like an Uchiha, Uchiha! You're losing your Uchiha-ness! In front of a three year old, no less!_ Sasuke cleared his throat and restated himself. "Yes, I need to have a word with your… mother."

"Ok! Come on then!" The blonde grabbed Sasuke's wrist and started to drag him to what they told Sasuke was the 'chakra restoration room'. While the three Hawk team-mates sweat dropped and stayed behind.

The young raven walked up beside the older raven and looked up to address him. "I deeply apologize for my idiot twin brother, I promise most of my other siblings are not as… hyper as he is."

"Hn." Sasuke looked down and smirked at the younger raven as he also smirked back towards the older male. They continued their journey down the halls, Sasuke still being dragged by the overly-happy blonde.

"Here we are!" The blonde boy finally stopped in his tracks.

In front of them stood large mahogany doors that seemed to look like they weighed a tonne. The little blonde chibi used both his hands, one on each door to open the heavy doors with ease. As the doors opened, Sasuke's jaw dropped to the floor as he saw a woman in a chamber with a glass window, eyes closed, dressed in what seemed to look like black priestess kimono(3), floating on a bed of blue chakra, with yellow chakra swirling around her unconscious body. What shocked him most was that she had long blonde hair. _Just like… Natsumi._ He was so far in shock that he didn't notice both chakras being sucked back in into the woman's body, her once blonde hair, returning to its former raven shade. As she opened eyes, her blue eyes turned black. She stood up in the chamber and moved towards the door of the chamber, oblivious to the gaping house guest. As she stepped out, the blonde boy ran up to her.

"Mommy!" The blonde boy jumped on her and hugged her.

"Hi, sweetie, did you miss mommy Mi-kun?" His mother smiled at him, as she picked him up and held him.

"Of course I did mommy, Fuu-Chan missed you too!" The boy in his mother's arms, turned around to see his brother. The young raven simply glared at his brother for calling him _that_ again. His mother looked to her raven son and smiled at him.

"Fuu-kun, don't be angry at Minato, you know what he's like, ne?" His mother chuckled at her raven son. She shifted her gaze and saw her house guest, standing beside her raven son. She looked up at the older raven and smiled to him.

"I see you've met my oldest boys."

"Hn." _They look familiar._

"You're all healed too I guess?"

"Hn." _Your recovery bath or what ever it's called is a miracle worker._

"Thanks. Have you looked around the estate yet?"

"Hn." _Not yet, your… boys, the blonde one especially dragged me here before I could. I need to talk to you._

"He gets excited when there are guests. I see you're still monosyllabic as always ne, Sas'ke?" She laughed.

Both of the young boys seemed to be confused as to how their mother could decipher a one worded (actually 'hn' is not even a word) answer and reply to it so fast. The woman looked at the boy in her arms and set him down, shifting her gazes towards her other son as she crouched down to her son's eye level.

"Minato, why don't you and Fuugaku go out and spar, ne? Mommy needs to talk to the guest. Okay?" She told the blonde.

"Okay!" He instantly replied, turning around to run to his brother before grabbing his wrist and started dragging him out the door.

"Come back before dinner okay?!" His mother shouted, straightening herself up.

"OKAY!" The blonde yelled back from a long distance away.

The raven haired woman smiled, looking at the door her boys just ran out from. Shifting her gaze, her eyes locked with Sasuke's.

"Why did you save me?" Sasuke questioned in a bored tone.

"You and your team were in trouble, and I just so happened to pass by." She shrugged. "No big deal. Besides, you were all practically trying to get yourselves killed."

"We were on a mission, what had to be done, had to be done, despite our… circumstances." He dead-panned.

"It's not a competition you know Sasu-chan, you probably could have taken Killer Bee down if you let yourself heal properly. I had to squeeze out nearly all my chakra into those recovery baths to heal every single one of you and your team mates' wounds, internal and external." She answered him, oblivious to what she just called him.

_Did she just call me Sasu-chan?! No one calls me that except…_

"Natsumi." He accidentally blurted out.

**Translations:**

(1) Madam

(2) Like the recovery baths from Wanted

(3) Looks like a Shinigami outfit (Bleach)


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters are by no means mine

**Disclaimer: Naruto****, Bleach and its characters are by no means mine **

Previously on The Uchiha Pride

"_Natsumi." He accidentally blurted out._

Chapter 3

"Yes." She answered instantly out of habit.

His eyes widened, and she finally realised that her cover was totally blown.

"I mean… Uh… I got nothing." She admitted.

"Why are you…" He trailed off.

"Alive?" She completed his question. He just nodded slightly. "It's a long story."

His eyebrow twitched "I have time."

"Sigh I guess the cat's finally out of the bag huh?" She questioned him, as he gave her his trademark Uchiha death glare. "Well, since this is going to be a long talk why don't we take a seat?" Sasuke nodded and they both approached the sofas located at the side of the room, when they were seated, she continued, "What do you want to know?"

"Everything. Why don't you start from the beginning, and maybe at the end explain to me why you were pregnant and already have children that are seemingly already 3 years old?"

"Oh my God, Sasu-chan are you feeling alright?"

He raised his eyebrow.

"I haven't heard you say a sentence that long since… well, ever."

Death glare…

"O-k then. I'm not who you think I am."

Raises eyebrow.

"I mean I am Natsumi. Just, not who you thought."

"Explain."

"The 'me' that you grew up with… that wasn't really me. Well, it was, just not the full story."

"…?"

"I joined ANBU when I was 5, but since ANBU were not allowed to be that young, I used a henge to transform my body into my 17 year old self. Sandaime was afraid that the elders of the council would feel threatened that a 5 year old can already become ANBU, he thought if they knew, they would think I was trying to take over the village or that they would use me as an 'ultimate weapon' besides Naruto. I'm sure you already know what my brother… contains." She looked at him, not wanting to tell him what she was about to tell him. "So Sandaime told me that if I was away on missions, I needed to send my bunshin to the academy so no one would get suspicious that I was gone. Not even Naruto knew about my little secret. I was told by the Hokage to keep it silent until the time comes for me to tell. I wasn't allowed to tell anyone, not even Naruto. However, there was one other person who knew my real identity." She looked at Sasuke, biting her bottom lip, anxious about the situation. "My ANBU partner, and co-captain, knew my secret."

"Itachi" He blurted out loud.

"Yes, Itachi. Things were okay for a few years, until one mission where we had to fight against a really powerful opponent. My… unique… abilities had to pop up in order for us to get out of the situation alive and defeat him. Of course, Danzou, one of the elders that had been after the Hokage throne for decades, sent one of the men from his organisation, ANBU Root, as a spy. Danzou had heard rumours about the 'powerful, young, female ANBU captain' and wanted to find out what I was capable of. After that incident, his spy had told him everything. His spy wasn't the only one that blabbed. Two of my squad members had also blabbed to the other elders about my little incident. They instantly knew it was my doing since the jutsus I used were limited to my mother's clan and another that was created by my father. No one except my father's sensei knew how to use that jutsu at the time, and it takes years to master it. Not to mention my father's sensei had been out of the country, travelling for the past four years prior to the incident. If you haven't already guessed, I used Rasengan, I'm sure you've seen that jutsu before. And the other was Whirlpool Prison, similar to the current Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara's Sand Coffin, but out of water. It's a jutsu that only my mother's clan knew how to use. Of course, they ruled out Naruto since they knew it was a female's doing. They kept it rather quiet. Then one day, when they heard of your clan's plan of attacking Konoha, and knowing how close I was to your family, they decided to do what anyone in their position would have done. Annihilate the two of the biggest threat to Konoha at the time. Danzou was the one who came up with the idea of destroying the Uchiha clan and killing me, effectively killing two birds with one stone. The elders were convinced due to the situation at hand, they figured that I would have joined up with your clan's plan, and some of the elders had started to get sceptical about my abilities, they believed that when I took over Konoha I would brainwash the citizens and turn them against the elders or something. Anyway, before they set out to go through with the plan, the Hokage called Itachi and I to his office and grudgingly told us of what had to be done."

_Flashback_

"_You both understand what your mission is, yes?"_

"_Hai, Hokage-sama." The 7-year-old girl replied, standing in her 17-year-old henge form in an ANBU uniform, standing beside her, her ANBU partner and co-captain. Clad in his ANBU uniform, stood Uchiha Itachi._

"_I know this is going to be hard for both of you, unfortunately, it is the only way. The Uchiha Clan is ready to strike and destroy Konoha. I tried my best to convince a truce between the elders and the Uchiha's, but as you can see, it has proven to be futile. Itachi, I'm sorry to place this burden on you."_

"_For the peace and safety of this village and its innocent civilians, even if it means I have to betray my family's trust, I will do whatever it takes." The older Uchiha stated._

_The Hokage sighed a breath of lament. "As for you, Natsumi, you've done well in hiding the fact that you are an ANBU, even from your own brother. Unfortunately the elders have suspected that you are in ANBU, seeing as your powers are uniquely… different to everyone else." At this, the girl smirked. "They have ordered for your assassination." The girl's smirk faltered. _

_The Hokage turned to Itachi and continued. "Itachi, I want you to take her out of this village with you, join Akatsuki together and see what they are up to. Before both of you leave this village, I want you to leave a fake body of Natsumi to convince the elders of her death. The only way they would believe she's dead is if you were the one who supposedly killed her." _

_He turned back to looking at Natsumi and continued. "When you get out of this village, you need to change your appearance enough for people to not be able to recognise you. When the time comes, I want you, Natsumi to spy on Orochimaru and see what he's up to, and possibly keep an eye out for someone else you might know." Natsumi looked up to the Hokage, confused. "Don't worry about it just yet; I just have a hunch as to what I think might happen, it might not. You'll see what happens when it happens. _

_He turned back to Itachi "Itachi, you stay with Akatsuki and continue to spy on them while Natsumi is at Orochimaru's."_

_He looked at both of them "When the time is right, I want you to return to Konoha and tell the next Hokage of the whole situation if I am no longer around. Do you have any questions?"_

_The girl looked up at the Hokage "Just one question. Why are the elders suddenly ordering for my assassination?"_

"_Because my dear, you are a candidate to be the next Hokage."_

_End of Flashback_

"Itachi wanted to keep the peace; he was so emotionally scarred from the Third Ninja War. He was determined to stop a fourth one from happening at all costs, even if he had to go against his own family. Unfortunately, the leader of this boycott was your father."

Sasuke's eyes widened at her statement. _Holy shit! She was going to be the next Hokage?! What the hell?! Father? Boycott? _

Natsumi smirked at his shock. "I guess Madara forgot to mention that part, ne?"

Sasuke looked confused as to why she even knew about Madara.

"You want to know how I knew Madara told you. Hn." She smirked. "One of my special abilities is that I can see into people's past, whether I like it or not. It just comes to me, I can see random flashes of their past that were the most significant to them, even while I'm talking or whatever."

"…" _So you know…_

"Yes, I know about the battle at the Valley of Ends."

"I-I…"

"I was also there."

"W-what?"

"You know, stuttering is so unUchiha-like of you Sasuke. Hn. You killed him."

Sasuke's eyes widened.

"His soul already began to leave his body. Kyuubi couldn't even do anything about it. If I wasn't there, he would have died."

"What did you…"

"I 'shoved' his soul back in."

"What?! HOW?!" He all but shouted.

"Geez, Sasuke, you're really losing your cool Uchiha-ness. Hehe…" She giggled. "The 'how' is not important, what is important is that he didn't die. So anyway, about Madara." She quickly changed the topic, "I've told you everything I know about the massacre. I'm not asking you to pick a side, just… be careful what you choose, ne?" She continued in a worried tone.

"Hn."

"Anything else you wanted to ask about?"

"Your children."

"They're lively, ne?"

"Whose are they?"

"Mine of course."

"Tch, I mean who's the father. Your black-haired son looks like my father, he even has the same name."

"Well, I did marry an Uchiha." She nervously chuckled.

"M-marry?" He stuttered… again. _Seriously! Stop stuttering damn it! You are a damn Uchiha!_ He slowly looked down, to see a diamond ring and a gold wedding band on her left ring finger. _She's married… Oh God, I just felt my heart skip a beat._

"Yeah, I thought he would have told you."

"Who?"

"Itachi."

"No, he never mentioned it."

"What?!"

"It's not like we had time to talk about our love lives before we battled to the death."

"Hmph!" She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

He smirked.

"Still, it would be nice to have been mentioned."

"And how exactly would he say it? 'Hey, little brother, guess what, I married your childhood friend that I killed, and she's having my babies.'" He said in a mocking and exaggerated tone.

"…W-well…"

"Before today, I never even knew you were still alive. I saw your body, covered in blood, dead. I even went to your funeral." He said, giving her the death glare.

"Ehehehe…" She nervously chuckled, rubbing her hand on the back of her head.

"I swear you and your brother is so much alike it's scary."

She laughed heartedly.

"So… how many children do you have?"

"Including the ones just born?"

"Uhh… Yeah."

"12."

"Oh, then that's just… wait, WHAT?!"

"You asked me how many children I have, and I told you. I have 12."

"How long have you been married?"

"Just over four years."

"Then why do you…"

"Have that many children? Hehe… I keep getting multiple births."

"Nani?"

"Well, I had four for my first pregnancy, then three, and today I just gave birth to five." She simply stated, grinning.

"…"

"I know. That's why I have so many people helping me around."

"Oh, so that's why your house is a bishounen harem."

"WHAT?! My house is NOT a harem."

"So you admit the bishounen then."

Her face flushed red. "N-no! I did not!"

He smirked. "Hn. So, care to explain why there are so many 'hot' men living with you?" He air quoted.

"They help me with my children."

"…?"

"They train them."

He lifted an eyebrow.

"It…"

Knock, knock, knock.

They both looked up to see the person at the door, it was the same silver-haired man that carried her when she was in labour.

"What is it Haine?"

"Today's trainings are done and dinner is ready. Everyone is already in the dining hall." The silver-haired man answered.

"Hn. Alright," She looked at Sasuke, "Let's go eat." She smiled at him. Sasuke and Natsumi stood up and followed Haine towards the dining hall.

- After Dinner -

- Natsumi's Office -

Knock, knock, knock

Natsumi looked up from the paperwork she held.

"Come in." She said without taking her eyes off the paperwork

The silver-haired man entered her office. She looked up at the man standing in front of her.

"What is it Haine?"

"You seem to be saying that a lot to me today, Taichou(4)." He smirked, she looked up at him, smirking back. "I see you're happy today."

"Hn." She smirked again, looking back to her paperwork. "So, what did you come to see me for?"

"It's about… Orochimaru, taichou."

**Translation:**

(4) Captain


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Naruto and its characters are by no means mine

**Disclaimer: Naruto****, Bleach and its characters are by no means mine **

Previously on The Uchiha Pride

"_Hn." She smirked again, looking back to her paperwork. "So, what did you come to see me for?"_

"_It's about… Orochimaru, taichou."_

Chapter 4

Her smirk faltered completely and looked up at him.

"What about him?!" She glared.

"We've… found his trace."

"What?" She said in a cold manner.

"His chakra has been detected near Rain Country."

"WHAT? I thought he was dead."

"That's what we all thought taichou."

"Are you absolutely sure it's him?"

"Yes taichou, there's no mistaking it."

"Didn't Itachi get rid of the last trace of that snake bastard?"

"Well, he did. You'll never believe it taichou."

"…?"

"When Sasuke-san 'killed' him, Kabuto took his last remaining chakra essence that hasn't completely dissipated yet…"

"And…?"

"He implanted it into his own body."

"What?!"

"Orochimaru is a living breathing parasite on Kabuto. He sacrificed his body to house Orochimaru, just like what the snake wanted to do to Sasuke-san."

"WHAT?!" She screamed, standing from her chair, banging her hands on the large mahogany table.

"Now Kabuto is out to kill Sasuke-san."

"NANDAYO?!" She screeched.

The silver-haired man scrunched up his face to hide himself from the view of his captain emanating the black aura. His taichou can be extremely scary at times.

She calmed herself down, bowing her head, hiding her face from her vice-captain "Find him." She whispered.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that taichou."

"I said, FIND HIM and kill that bastard, fukutaichou(5)!" She told him. "Go, take Suzaku, Seiryuu and Kiryuu with you. Find that snake and kill him. Open the gates of hell and WATCH BOTH their tainted, evil souls enter it before you come back here!"

"H-hai taichou!" He stuttered.

"Go, NOW!" She screamed.

He didn't need to be told twice, he nearly rushed out of the door, before he completely exited the room, he turned back to address his captain. Natsumi took a seat again in her chair and put her face in her palms.

"Taichou, do you really think it's safe to tell Sasuke-san _everything_ about you?"

She looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"I know it's not my business, but we still don't know where his loyalty stands right now. Maybe it's not such a good idea to tell him everything… just yet… maybe." He continued.

"I know. But he deserves to know why _it_ happened. He needs to know that his brother never hated him like Itachi claimed. He needs to know the truth. At least about his clan's massacre."

"Just… Be careful Nat-Chan, I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Hn." She smiled, "I will Haine. Don't worry."

"Somehow, you saying that is making me worry even more."

"Hn." She smirked. "I promise, I won't do anything stupid, fukutaichou."

"Pssh, like that made it any better." He answered sarcastically. "Alright then, I'm off, try to not miss me so much." He joked, winking at Natsumi.

"Hn, whatever. When have I missed you?"

"Hn, you say that but you know you always do, besides who else will be able to take care of your many many children if I'm not around?"

She just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Very mature Na." He sarcastically added, "I'll see you soon, ne?"

She just smiled at him as he waved goodbye.

- Sometime Later (still the same night) -

Natsumi went to Sasuke's room to find him already in deep sleep.

'_Sigh I was going to tell him everything, but he's already in deep sleep, I guess I could always do it __**that**__ way' _She thought to herself.

She approached Sasuke's bed and lifted her hand to his face, her hand glowed a bright red colour and her eyes flashed golden. She saw him scrunch up his face in slight discomfort but he was still in deep sleep nonetheless. She retracted her hand and started to walk towards the door; she took one last look at Sasuke and exited the room, closing the door as silently as she could.

_Flashback/ Dream Sequence_

Sasuke found himself warped from his current dream. He was apparently standing in a deserted hallway; he'd never been here before. He looked around until he heard footsteps coming towards him. He tried to conceal himself, hiding behind a large white pillar. He tried to decipher what they were saying and figuring out who they were. He heard a female's voice, akin to Natsumi's and another voice… a male voice… it sounded almost like… Itachi.

"_Itachi, what's the matter?"_

"_I need to have a talk with you… privately." He calmly replied, leading the raven-haired woman into a room. _Sasuke followed the pair into what seemed to be a… bedroom? Sasuke hid himself behind the sofa.

_Itachi took a seat at the edge of the bed, drenched in sweat. Natsumi followed Itachi and sat beside him. She reached out to him with a worried look on her face._

"_Tachi, are you okay?" She asked him, lifting her hand to brush the hair out of his face._

"_I'm fine." He curtly replied._

"_No, you're obviously not! Please tell me what's going on." She frowned._

"_I need a favour from you, Na." _

"_I will do no such thing until you TELL me WHAT is going on with you!" She shouted, getting up from the bed, glaring at him._

"_I'm going blind, Na."_

"…_What?"_

"_I'm going blind, I'm dying. I over-used the Mangekyou Sharingan."_

"_I already told you to STOP using it. You KNOW what it would do to you." She shouted._

"_Don't shout, Na. They'll hear you." He calmly said._

"_Stuff them! I put up sound barriers around our room already. So DON'T tell me not to shout."_

"_sigh"_

"_I TOLD you about it, I WARNED you about it, why didn't you LISTEN to me?"_

"_I had no choice."_

"_What do you mean 'no choice'; of course you have a choice! You just chose to use it."_

"_I was up against Kakashi. I had no choice, his Sharingan is just as able as mine, and he was not my only opponent."_

"_Tachi…" She frowned._

"_Can I ask for the favour now?" He asked her, losing his emotionless mask, __completely relaxing in her presence_, just like Sasuke remembered him to be. Sasuke smiled at seeing his brother look so relaxed like he usually did when he was younger. God, how he missed his brother like this. Sasuke didn't even notice the tears streaming down his face. The couple started talking again, breaking Sasuke of his reverie.

"_What favour?"_

"_I need you to go to Orochimaru's."_

"… _Why?"_

"_I need you to look after someone there."_

"… _Who?"_

"_Sasuke."_

"… _WHAT?! What is he doing there?"_

"_Quest of power."_

"_NANDAYO?! You're saying that this is ALL BECAUSE OF YOU?!" She frowned._

"… _Yes."_

"_Why would he seek power form the devil?!"_

"…"

_She raised an eyebrow, one of her eyes twitching in anger, "What did you say to him on that night?" She asked in a chilly tone._

"_I believe, I said something along the lines of 'Foolish brother, if you wish to kill me, hate me, detest me, __and survive in an unsightly way. Run, run and cling to life. And one day, when you have the same eyes I do, come before me'."_

"_So you're telling me that it's because of what you said that Sasuke tried to kill my brother?"_

"… _Hai"_

"_And because of you, he's seeking power from that snake bastard, even though he knows what the snake wants in return."_

"… _Yes."_

"_Oh my God, Tachi, what have you done?" She sat back down beside him, putting her face in her palms._

"…"

"_You were supposed to convince your brother that you really did it, not make him sell his soul, well in his case, his body, to that snake asshole I'm supposed to send to hell." She groaned into her palms._

"_I didn't know he would turn to Orochimaru in his desperation for power."_

"_Sasu would do ANYTHING to live up to your standards. He's been that way for as long as I could remember. He's always been in your shadow, he's trying to surpass you, and there is no way that he can ever beat you if he stayed in Konoha. Even I know that. Konoha is too scared that someone would be able to surpass their powers. Look how well that turned out for us. The whole village thinks I'm dead, not even my childhood best friend or my own twin brother knows I'm still alive. Tachi, I'm so tired of living like this. Being fugitives is not all it's cut out to be." She finally sighed, letting her hands fall to her lap, looking at the floor._

_Itachi wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed the top of her head to comfort her. _

"_I know. I'm sorry I brought this on you." He put his chin on her head._

"_Speaking of 'bringing up' things… I have to tell you something."_

_Itachi looked directly into her eyes, confusion present in his face._

"_What is it?"_

"_Well, it's kind of… big."_

"…_?"_

"_I'm…" She looked up into Itachi's black eyes, "…pregnant." She whispered, barely audible, _Sasuke couldn't hear it from where he was hiding, _but Itachi heard it crystal._

"_What?" He asked to confirm what she just said._

"_I'm pregnant." She said a little louder, enough for Sasuke to hear her._

_Itachi's facial expression showed a mixture of confusion and happiness, he just stared at his wife, mouth gaping in an 'O' shape, which was pretty rare to see on the stoic Uchiha's face, since he normally never even showed any expression on his face. _Even Sasuke was gaping, ok, they are definitely already hitched and sleeping together. Hmm… my best friend and my brother… That's just… weird.

"_So… Sasuke at Orochimaru's ne?"_

"…_?"_

"_How are we going to convince Pein so I can leave Akatsuki? It's not like I can just tell him 'hey, I'm going away for a while, bye!'." _

_Itachi smirked. _Sasuke's only thought was Holy shit! She's in Akatsuki?!

"_Well, we can always tell them you're pregnant and you'd be a complete hormonal mess they wouldn't want to mess with, so you can take a 'break' from Akatsuki." She glared at him at the 'hormonal mess' comment._

"_Is that what you call the woman bearing your child or possibly children? A hormonal mess? While I have to spend the next nine months practically living in front of the toilet bowl, emptying everything I just ate and possibly get weird cravings like pickle on toast or something, you're going to go around calling me a 'hormonal mess'?" She lifted an eyebrow and gave him a glare only Uchiha's could do._

"_Hahaha" He laughed heartily, clutching his stomach. _Oh my God… did he just… LAUGH?! Itachi NEVER laughs! Especially heartily like THAT! What kind of sick, twisted, alternate reality is this?!

"_Tachi, did you have your crazy pills today?!" She joked._

_He gave her a half glare._

"_Now we're even" She stuck out her tongue at him._

_He simply smirked at her childish gesture._

"_Sometimes I still forget how young you are. Anyway, I need you to also keep this with you." He said to her, handing her two scrolls he got out from his cloak pocket._

"_What are these?"_

"_In the event of my death, by Sasuke, I want you to give these to him."_

"…_?"_

"_And you can't read it either. I'll know if you opened it."_

_She gave him a mock shocked face "Do you distrust me THAT much?"_

"_Hn. No, I completely trust you, but I do want to remind you before you open it and tell me I never told you that you can't read it."_

"_Hn. Fine."_

"_I swear, you are turning into an Uchiha with the amount of 'hn's and death glares you give."  
_

"_Well, I am married to one aren't I?!" She raised an eyebrow._

_He smiled at her._

"_What?" She said._

"_Nothing. I'm just happy. I'm actually going to be a father. Even if I never get a chance to meet my children, I'm still happy to be one soon. Although I doubt that Sasuke would be too happy about not being 'the last Uchiha' anymore." He smirked._

"_I don't think he ever was happy to gain that title. And it means he has to 'breed' less." She laughed, not soon after Itachi joined her and laughed too._

"_I love you so much Na."_

"_Where did that come from? Suddenly saying you love me."_

"_I'm sorry I took you away from Sasuke."_

"…_?"_

"_I always knew he's the one you love, not me. I just wanted one selfish wish to come true before I died you know?" He said, bowing his head to look at the floor, slightly sulking._

_She lifted his face up, so he was able to see her. "Don't say that. I love you too. I even went out with you before that whole massacre thing." She smiled at him. "I wouldn't have agreed to marry you if I didn't love you." Itachi smiled back._

To say Sasuke was shocked was a complete understatement. Didn't she realize the double meaning in her words? I love you **too**? Doesn't that mean she loved Sasuke too? She didn't even bother to contradict Itachi that she loved Sasuke. Did she mean it? Or was it just a slip of tongue?

"_When do you want me to go?" Her tone completely serious._

_Itachi's smile completely faltered; his face serious again. "… I need you to go tomorrow. I'll convince the leader that you need to go."_

"_Hn." She nodded and smirked._

Sasuke felt the room spin; he closed his eyes to get rid of the nausea threatening to come up his throat. He reopened his eyes when he felt the spinning stop. He was now standing in the middle of a clearing that seemed familiar to him. It seemed almost like… Orochimaru's hideout. Near the end of the clearing was Natsumi, dressed in the black halter Shinigami outfit with a sword in its sheath on her left hip. She was looking across the clearing towards the hideout. She let out a deep sigh and approached the lair. Before she was able to approach the entrance, Kabuto came out to stop her.

"_What do you think you're doing here?" Kabuto said, adjusting his glasses._

"_I have come to join Orochimaru."_

"_Hmph. You may be able to fool the others, but I know that's not why you're here."_

"_Hn, you know, you're right. I am here for a reason."_

_  
He raised an eyebrow._

"_I heard Sasuke have recently joined you. Do you really think you or Orochimaru can properly train him?" She replied curtly._

"_So you have come for Sasuke. What is in it for you?"_

"_Hn. Shelter and protection. Besides, I can not possibly be expected to live in a cruddy damp cave while I'm expecting, if you know what you mean." She smirked._

_Cruddy damp cave?! What the hell is she talking about?! That place was a palace._

"_So the lair hasn't changed much since Orochimaru-sama was there huh?"_

"_Hn. So do we have a deal?"_

"_How do I know you will keep your word?"_

"_Why don't I deal with Orochimaru then?"_

"_Fine." He said as he started hand signing a clone to call Orochimaru._

_Ten seconds later Orochimaru arrived with Kabuto's clone, the clone poofed away after it completed its mission to retrieve Orochimaru. _

"_Namikaze Natsumi, to what do I owe this pleasure?"_

"_I'm here to seek shelter and protection."  
_

"_Oh? And why is that?"_

"_I'm expecting and there is no way that living in the middle of nowhere would do me or my baby any good."_

"_What can you offer __**me**__ as repayment for this favour?"_

"_I heard Uchiha Sasuke recently came to you to seek power."_

"_And?"_

"_You of all people should know by now that __**I'm **__the only person that can fully unlock his potential."_

"_Hm… That __**is**__ true. Fine, I shall let you stay, but, I want to see the power of your katana for my self."_

"_Hn. First of all it's not called a katana. It's called a zanpakutou_(6)_. Secondly, if that's what it takes for me to stay in your protection, then fine. I shall show you the power of my zanpakutou." She took the blade out of its sheath. She held it in front of her face, its flat face reflecting her face. "Scatter, Senbon Zakura." The blade disintegrated into what seemed like millions of pink sakura petals, only the hilt remaining intact. The sakura petals revolved around her body in a hurricane-like fashion. Orochimaru, Kabuto and _Sasuke were beyond perplexed. How was this even possible?! No ninja arts ever allowed such a technique, since it was physically impossible.

_Orochimaru pointed at a cluster of boulders at the corner of the clearing._

"_Destroy those boulders."_

_She simply smirked. Not even looking at the boulders, the pink petals approached the boulders and destroyed them to millions of tiny pieces. When the job was done, the petals rushed towards its owner and circled around her before reforming into its metallic form of a sword again. Natsumi put the zanpakutou back into the sheath._

"_Satisfied?"_

"_Hmm… Very convincing. Alright, we have a deal."_

"_Hn." She smirked._

"_However, there is one condition."_

"…_?"_

"_You may never show your face in front of Sasuke while you're here. He may never know that you were here at all."_

"… _Alright."_

"_Although I doubt he would be very convinced you were here in the first place. Rumour tells you died a long time ago."_

"_Well, one should learn to ignore silly rumours then ne?" She smirked._

"_Hmph." He glowered. "Let's go." He said to them as he turned around and started walking towards the hideout._

Sasuke was sent spinning… again... into another sequence. Okay, this warping shit has GOT to stop. I feel like throwing up now. Gah! Now, he was in a dimly lit room, _his_ old room to be more precise. He walked up to the bed and saw his body lying there unconscious. This must be when I lost consciousness for a week. His thought screeched to a halt when he heard the door rattle. Oh crap, I gotta hide. Sasuke hid behind a pillar near his bed. He saw a heavily pregnant Natsumi walk up to his limp body and took a seat on the bed.

_Natsumi sighed, looking at Sasuke's limp body. She brought a hand up to caress his face._

"_Geez, I can't believe you would go through hell and back, training just to kill Itachi. You've grown up so much Sasu. I'm sorry I lied to you all this time we've known each other." She said in a slightly sad tone as a teardrop fell on Sasuke's unconscious body._

_Natsumi's hand started to glow bright yellow, she brought her glowing hand down to Sasuke's chest and the yellow chakra started to flow through his body, covering it. _Sasuke suddenly remembered, during his comatose, he did feel something… warm and powerful coursing through his body. So that's what it was. She was the one that healed me.

_The Sasuke on the bed started to rustle. Natsumi instantly pulled her hand away and as he stirred on the bed. She quickly got up and ran out the door, closing the door as quietly as she could, as Sasuke started to slowly open his eyes. He slowly turned towards the door and stared at it, furrowing his eyebrows._

Sasuke found himself pulled from the dream and felt the room spin. Ok, enough with the spinning, SERIOUSLY! He slowly opened his eyes; all he could see was the ceiling of a dark room.

_End flashback/dream sequence_

He instantly realized he was back in Natsumi's guest bedroom._ What a weird dream, I could have sworn it seemed more like a flashback rather than a dream._ He looked over to the bedside table and saw the digital clock. Bright numbers flashing '05:30' partially illuminated the bedroom. _Sigh, guess I should get up, not like I can go back to sleep now. _He grudgingly got up the bed and headed towards the en suite bathroom.

Once he got out the bathroom, still wearing the black silk pajamas Natsumi's assistants offered, he decided to walk around the mansion and look around. A light coming through a slightly ajar door caught his attention, he quietly opened the door. He saw the fireplace alight, an armchair placed in front of it, facing its back on Sasuke. He walked around to see if anyone was there. He saw Natsumi sleeping on the armchair, clutching two scrolls, just like the ones he saw in his dream. He almost forgot how beautiful she looked, even when she was asleep. A tear rolled down her face, still deep in sleep. Sasuke couldn't help but gently wipe the tear away as he crouched down to her level. She slowly opened her eyes as his hands touched her skin.

"…Suke?" She mumbled quietly, trying to focus her eyes and lightly rubbing it. _Aww… She looks so cute!_ "What time is it?"

"5:30"

"Why are you up so early?"

"I had the weirdest dream last night, I just couldn't go back to sleep afterwards."

"… Oh. I guess it's time for me to give you _these_ then." She handed him the scrolls.

"So it wasn't a dream."

"Well… technically."

"It was your memories?"

"… Yeah."

"… I'm sorry."

She looked up at him with a confused look on her face.

"What for?"

"You lost your husband because of me."

"What went on between you and your brother had nothing to do with me. Besides, you already know that he was the one who wanted this."

"Bu…"

"No. I know you feel bad now, killing Itachi without knowing his true intentions. Trust me, if I could tell you the truth at the time, I would have. But one, it wasn't my business to meddle with, and two, it was what he wanted. Him being alive was much more painful for him than you killing him. Even with the amount of chakra and healing I gave him; his disease was still eating at him slowly. If I had a say in any of this, I was rather glad he was put out of his misery, even if it meant losing the father of my children. I hated seeing him suffer like that." She told him, a tear drop rolling down her cheeks. Sasuke took a seat on the plush foot rest that matched the loveseat, going eye to eye with her.

"Na…"

"I'm sorry for going all emotional on you."

"It's alright" He wiped the tear off her cheeks, "Everything is going to be fine" he pulled her into a hug "I promise" he tightened his grip as she sobbed quietly into his chest.

**Translation:**

(5) Vice-Captain

(6) Soul Slayer (Like the ones from Bleach)


	5. Special Notes on OC's 1

Disclaimer: Naruto, Bleach and its characters are not mine at all

**Disclaimer: Naruto, Bleach and its characters are not mine at all!**

Notes regarding Natsumi and Itachi's Children

Uchiha Itachi x Namikaze Natsumi

12 Children

Marriage Age: Uchiha Itachi 17 (DOB: 9 June 1981), Namikaze Natsumi 13 (DOB: 26 April 1985)

Married on: 23 July 1998

Quads: (DOB: 23 March 1999)

Uchiha Fuugaku

Male

Black Hair

Black Eyes

Similar to: Uchiha Fuugaku Snr.

Uchiha Minato

Male

Blonde Hair

Blue Eyes

Similar to Namikaze Minato

Uchiha Mikoto

Female

Black Hair

Dark Brown Eyes

Similar to Uchiha Mikoto Snr.

Uchiha Kushina

Female

Red Hair

Green Eyes

Similar to Uzumaki Kushina

Triplets: (DOB: 17 August 2000)

Uchiha Toshiro

Male

Black Hair

Black Eyes

Similar to: Uchiha Itachi

Uchiha Yuki

Male

Dark Blue Hair

Black Eyes

Similar to: Uchiha Sasuke

Uchiha Tamaki

Male

Blonde Hair

Blue Eyes

Similar to: Uzumaki Naruto

Quins: (DOB: 10 October 2002)

Uchiha Ichigo

Male

Orange-Red Hair

Hazel Eyes

Similar to: Kurosaki Ichigo (Bleach)

Uchiha Mayumi

Female

Black Hair

Hazel Eyes

Similar to: Uchiha Itachi

Uchiha Takashi

Male

Black Hair

Blue Eyes

Similar to: Mixture of Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto

Uchiha Ayumi

Female

Blonde Hair

Blue Eyes

Similar to: Namikaze Natsumi

Uchiha Haruhi

Female

Black Hair

Green Eyes

Similar to: Namikaze Natsumi


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Naruto, Bleach and its characters are by no means mine

**Disclaimer: Naruto, Bleach and its characters are by no means mine **

Previously on The Uchiha Pride

"_It's alright" He wiped the tear off her cheeks, "Everything is going to be fine" he pulled her into a hug "I promise" he tightened his grip as she sobbed quietly into his chest._

Chapter 5

- The Next Day -

Natsumi was sitting in her office, working on a mountain load of paperwork at lightning speed. Sasuke and his team mates had agreed to help train her children while their usual trainers were on a mission.

A soft knock was heard at the door.

"Come in." Natsumi said loudly, eyes still glued to her paperwork.

"Taichou." A red-haired man came into view.

Natsumi looked up at the man that had just entered. "What is it Hiro?"

"We have news from Soul Society that Itachi-sama has joined the ranks. He is now in Gotei 13's 3rd squad. He is currently training for the captain position."

"Hn." She smirked. "Anything else?"

"Yes, taichou. Namikaze-sama said _it is time_."

Natsumi's smirk was instantly replaced by a serious frown. "What happened to Jiraiya-ji?"

"He was killed in battle."

"**Who** killed him? He's a very powerful ninja. It must have been someone with tremendous power."

"It was the 7 Pein's."

"What?! You mean as in _**all 7**_ of them?"

"Hai, taichou-sama. He went to Rain country alone, scouting. I doubt he knew there were 7 of them. I'm guessing he only thought it was one person. He even called the toad elders to help in battle."

"And they couldn't help?"

"Unfortunately not, taichou. Jiraiya-sama was attacked from behind while fighting off one of them. When he was caught, the other 5 followed the attacker and stabbed him simultaneously. We were able to recover his body from the bottom of the lake in Rain."

"Has he…?"

"Not yet, Natsumi-sama. The others have informed me that his soul is wondering around Konoha at the moment."

"Has anyone told Naruto yet?"

"No, taichou."

"…" Natsumi put down the file she was reading on her desk. She put her elbows on the desk and intertwined her fingers, resting her chin on them. She thought hard for a while, closing her eyes. She re-opened them with a snap. "Tell our house guests that I will be away for a while on a mission. Keep an eye on each of them. We don't want them getting injured or injuring others. While I am away, you are in charge. If Haine comes back before I do, tell him what is going on. Do not mention a word of this to anyone, _especially_ the guests. Is that understood?"

"Hai, taichou. How long will you be away for?"

"… I don't know. I will come back as soon as I can. I will keep disguised clones here just in case anything happens. Tell them what you need if the occasion arises."

"Hai, taichou. I will do my best."

"You are dismissed."

Hiro bowed and left the room.

Natsumi got up from her chair and walked towards the bookshelf. She incompletely pulled a blue book from the 3rd shelf, opening a secret passageway. She walked into the dark corridors, as she passed, ember torches blazed to reveal the path. She continued until she reached the end of the tunnel. After grabbing her zanpakutou and a think skull medallion from the shelf, she retreated back into her office.

She transported herself to Sage Mountains, trying to find the elder frog, Fukusaku. Once she arrived, she went into the building where Fukusaku resided. The frog sat at the throne-like seat, slightly taken aback by her presence.

"Natsu-chan, what are you doing here?"

"Fukusaku-sama. I'm sure you know about Jiraiya-ji's unexpected death."

"Yes, I was there."

"It is time then."

The elder frog looked even more serious at her comment. "How should I retrieve him?"

"I will go to Konoha to inform Tsunade-baachan shortly…"

"I'm surprised she hasn't tried to kick you to the other side of the country with you calling her that." The frog interrupted. All he got for in response for that comment was a cold glare.

"… Anyway, as I was saying, I will meet up with Jiraiya-ji before I go and I'll be the one to bring the bad news."

"Meet Jiraiya-chan? How is that possible? He's dead."

She smirked at the elder frog, "Have you forgotten _what_ I am?"

"Hmm… Good point."

"Alright, so after I tell them, I will need you to pick _him_ up, Fukusaku-sama. He doesn't know I'm alive. And I need him to keep believing that until he finishes his _training_ with you."

"Hmm… Alright then."

"If you will excuse me, I shall take my leave now. Please tell me when his training is done, Fukusaku-sama. I really appreciate it. Please don't mind his… unique attitude."

"…?"

"You'll know when you meet him."

The elder frog smirked, Natsumi smirked back. She bowed before leaving the building. Once she was outside, she looked up at the sky, closed her eyes and deeply sighed. When she was calmed, she opened her eyes again before transporting herself away from the place.

She stopped on a tree and closed her eyes, scanning her surroundings, before getting a small candy dispenser. She swallowed one and in an instant, her soul was pulled out of her body, her body temporarily inhabited by a soul replacement. Her soul-self told her body to follow her. They went in the direction of Konoha by shunpo(7). Once they arrived Natsumi commanded the replacement soul in her body to hide and mask her chakra while her soul would go and look for Jiraiya's soul.

She found his soul wondering around the bath house, peeking at the ladies outdoor spa through a peek hole. She chuckled to herself and walked silently towards him.

"Old habits die hard, ne Jiraiya-jichan?" She smiled at him.

He slowly turned around to see his god-daughter in her Shinigami outfit, with a giant sword strapped on her back. Her blonde hair and blue eyes shimmered in the sunlight.

"N-natsumi?!" He stuttered out.

"I'm glad you still remember me ji-chan." She grinned at him.

"I can't believe it, you really are dead." He sighed sadly.

She just giggled. "No, ji-chan. I'm not actually dead."

"…?"

"It's a long story."

"Pray, tell me, I have all the time in the world." He drawled sarcastically.

She sighed, "Fine. When I was about 7, Sandaime asked me to become Hokage…"

"…!"

"Naturally, the elders were unhappy about it, especially Danzou. So, Danzou ordered the ANBU to assassinate me. He had asked Itachi to do it since he was my partner in ANBU and he was the only one who knew my strengths and weaknesses. Itachi originally didn't agree, Sandaime had heard about the order and asked Itachi to pose my death on the night he assassinated the clan by using a fake body and use a jutsu on it to make it look like me. We escaped Konoha to spy on Akatsuki by posing to be members."

"… Wow… That's… It still doesn't tell me why you can see me though."

"About that… it appears that I was born as a Shinigami."

"A soul reaper?"

"Yes, but not the scary kind. I only 'reap souls' when the person is already dead."

"So you've come to reap my soul then?"

"That among other things."

"What do you mean?"

"I need you to tell me of Naruto's progression."

The pervy sage smirked and proceeded to tell her everything she needed to know about Naruto's training while he was with him.

Once they were done, Jiraiya had told her that he was ready to cross-over. She simply smiled at him and grabbed her giant sword and pressed the back of the hilt on his forehead. He smiled at her before his soul was surrounded by light and evaporated.

Natsumi stared at the now empty spot where Jiraiya's soul was previously standing on. A tear rolled down her cheek and she smiled.

"Thank you Jiraiya-jichan." She whispered, before running back to put her soul back into her body.

--

She stood at the gates of Konoha, greeting the guards of the gate.

"I have business with the Hokage."

"And who might you be?" Izumo asked.

"My identity is of no importance, however, the news I bring is urgent that I deliver it to Tsunade-baachan."

"Tsunade-baachan?! You must know her well if you dare to call Hokage-sama _that._"

"Hn. I haven't seen her for more a long time."

"Hmm… I can bring you to her. I will need a name to let you through though."

"Hn. Fine. She will hopefully recognize me if you addressed me as Nami."

"Alright, please follow me then." Izumo got out of his booth, leaving his partner to man the gates alone. He took her to the Hokage tower.

When they both arrived, Izumo knocked on Tsunade's office doors. There was a loud 'Come in!' from the other side. Izumo asked Natsumi to wait outside while he went inside.

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork, "What is it Izumo?"

"There is a woman wanting to see you Tsunade-sama."

"Who?"

"She addressed herself as Nami."

'_Nami? Wait… Could it be?' _Tsunade thought. "Very well, bring her in."

Izumo bowed and left the room to bring in the guest. Natsumi entered the office, as Tsunade dismissed Izumo to go back to his post. Izumo bowed again before departing the office, leaving the guest and the Hokage alone.

"What business do you have with me?" Tsunade asked in a serious tone.

"Seriously, is that how you're going to greet me after not seeing me for over a decade, baa-chan?" Natsumi lifted an eyebrow and crossing her arms over her chest.

Tsunade was confused. She didn't recognize Natsumi, since she now had black hair and black eyes. However, the nickname she gave Tsunade was awfully familiar.

"Natsumi?"

"Hn. So you do remember me baa-chan."

"I don't believe this! I thought you were dead!" She rose from her chair abruptly, banging her hands on the desk as she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Natsumi couldn't be happier that she had just put a sound barrier around the Hokage's office. "Baaa-chaaan" she whined, "It's supposed to be a secret."

"W-what do you mean?"

"Itachi faked my death when I was 7 to save me from a real assassination."

"… On whose order?"

"Konoha's"

"N-nani?!"

"Konoha wanted my head on a platter."

"Why?"

"They think I'm a threat because I'm too powerful."

"So your own village decided they wanted to assassinate you because you were too powerful?!" She yelled.

"That's what they did to the Uchiha clan." She shrugged.

"What… What do you mean?"

"Didn't anyone tell you? Itachi was ordered to assassinate his clan."

"Nandayo?! … Does that younger Uchiha brat know about this?"

"Now he does."

"…?"

"He was told about the whole thing after he finished off Itachi."

"…"

"Anyway, what's done is done. Nothing we can do about it now. Besides, this wasn't the reason I came here today."

"…?"

"I came here to bring you some bad news."

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry baa-chan, but Jiraiya-ji is dead."

Tsunade was in shock, her eyes widened at the news, tears started to well in her eyes. "W-what? H-how?"

"The leaders of Akatsuki killed him."

"Leaders?"

"There are 7 of them."

"SEVEN?!"

"All possessing the Rinnengan(8)."

"WHAT?!"

"That's impossible! There was only one person that survived with that Kekkei Genkai!"

"Yes, Jiraiya-ji's ex-pupil. Apparently he can use his Rinnengan to control other people' body and mind, making them clones of himself, but possessing each person's individual ability. So far he has managed to control 6 people. The seven of them are calling the shots in Akatsuki. Sandaime asked Itachi and I to spy on the organisation. They are after Naruto now. They have captured 7 of the 9 jinchuuriki, as you already know they had gotten to Kazekage-sama. All the jinchuuriki they have captured so far have died due to the extraction. One of the Akatsuki members even convinced Sasuke to capture the eight tail's jinchuuriki, if I didn't come in time, KillerBee would have died."

"So that brat is now in Akatsuki."

"The member I told you about was the one that told Sasuke about Itachi first, I told him the untold parts after I stopped the battle between him and the jinchuuriki. You would never believe who that member was baa-chan."

"…Who was it?"

"Uchiha Madara."

"WHAT in the world?! He's supposed to be dead! He was the same age as my grandfather! They both died together at the Valley of End, that's why that place was named like that!"

"That's what everyone thinks, baa-chan. Just like how they thought Itachi was evil and I was dead."

"… Good point."

"Besides, I'm here to ask for your permission."

"For what?"

"I want Naruto to train with the elder frog to become a sage."

"…?"

"I need him to be able to master the sage techniques before he would be able to handle Kyuubi's powers without it consuming him."

"You want Naruto to become a sage and harness Kyuubi's power?"

"Hai"

"What if he loses control?"

"Don't worry baa-chan; he will be training at my place. There are some things about me you don't know about, especially about my powers. You of all people should know that the Konoha would never order to assassinate anyone if they're not a serious power threat. I was supposed to be Godaime when I was 7, but on the night before the ceremony I was 'assassinated'." She air quoted.

Tsunade was beyond shocked. Natsumi was supposed to be Hokage at the age of 7?! How did she never know all this?!

"What is it that you have that is so threatening to this village?"

"I have the power to control the tailed beasts."

"… What?"

"I trust you will not leak this information to anyone else, I trust _you_. That's why I am willing to tell you this."

"How can you control those powerful beasts?"

"It takes one to control one."

"What are you talking about?"

"I am the juubi(9)." Her voice low.

Tsunade's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

(7) Flash Steps (Bleach)

(8) Kekkei Genkai: Special Eye Ability like the Sharingan, Pein's ability (for those who hasn't read the manga) pupils surrounded by multiple rings.

(9) Ten tailed beast


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Naruto, Bleach and its characters are by no means mine **

Previously on The Uchiha Pride

"_How can you control those powerful beasts?"_

"_It takes one to control one."_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_I am the juubi__(9)__." Her voice low._

_Tsunade's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates._

Chapter 6

"T-that's… impossible."

Natsumi smirked, "Not as impossible as you may think Hokage-sama."

"The juubi doesn't even exist!"

"Hn. I think you've been misinformed baa-chan. Just like everyone else in the entire ninja world. Only a few people know the truth about the juubi. Unlike the other tailed beasts, the juubi holder is not a jinchuuriki. The juubi holder is the juubi itself."

Tsunade's jaw dropped.

"Tora no Juubi(10) only ever appears when the other tailed beasts appear. Its job is to control the beasts and train their jinchuuriki's of how to control their powers. Over time, most of the tailed beasts and their jinchuuriki's were able to merge their powers together and live symbiotically with each other. The only exception being Kyuubi no Kitsune(11). Kyuubi was the only bijuu(12) that always refused to merge with its host. The only way to control and harness Kyuubi's power is for the Juubi to train the jinchuuriki, if Kyuubi was even _in_ a host. It has been a very long time since the last time Kyuubi was put in a host, so Juubi had never needed to be around. Hence, no one bothered to tell their children of the tale of the Juubi since they've never seen it. The general rule is that if the Kyuubi was to be put into a host, the Juubi would be born close to the Kyuubi holder, be it a family member, a trainer or a potential friend. Konoha was afraid that if I trained Naruto, he would destroy Konoha or something because they've always treated him badly." She continued.

"I… I don't know what to say."

"Just say you will allow Naruto to train as a sage."

"Alright."

"One more thing: No one is to know about our meeting, I mean no one is to know that _I _was the one that spoke to you, _**especially**_ Naruto."

"…Why?"

"Everyone thinks I'm dead. I would like to keep it that way until it is time for me to train Naruto."

"Fine."

"Before I go, I will summon Fukusaku-sama. When you tell Naruto about the training and Jiraiya-ji's death, please tell him that it was Fukusaku-sama that told you. Or better yet, let Fukusaku-sama tell him."

Tsunade let out a long sigh, '_She hasn't changed a bit. She's exactly like her brother and her parents.'_ "Fine, have it your way."

She grinned exactly like Naruto, "Thank you baa-chan. It was nice seeing you again. Well I better go now."

Before leaving, she did summoning hand signs, not long after, the frog elder popped up in a cloud of smoke. She grinned at the both of them before she exited the office through the window.

"Damn impatient Namikaze brat. She could have used the door like normal people." Tsunade grumbled under her breath.

"But she _isn't _normal people, is she now?" Fukusaku replied her.

"Hn." Tsunade smirked as the new team 7 entered her office.

- Five Months Later -

Natsumi had reached the gates to her estate. She decided to go and look around the training areas to see if anyone was around. She stumbled upon the first arena and saw Sasuke sparring with her eldest son, Fuugaku. She just watched them as they continued. She had set a rule for all her children that they were not allowed to show their full power in front of anyone but her and their respective trainers. She just didn't want them to get hurt or kidnapped by others after seeing their true powers. Even without his full power, Fuugaku was able to get Sasuke to spar with his Sharingan activated. Natsumi knew that Sasuke's Sharingan had different levels; the one he used right now was his least powerful. However, she also knew that one had to be powerful to even get Sasuke to fight with his Sharingan activated, least powerful or not. Natsumi smirked as she leaned on a tree trunk.

"Fuu-chan." She addressed her son, successfully stopping the both of them from the spar.

Both Sasuke and Fuugaku looked at the source of the call.

"Mom?"

Sasuke just stayed silent and watched her from where he stood.

"I see you boys are enjoying yourself."

"Yeah mom, uncle Sasuke is such a good shinobi!"

She smiled gently at her young son. "He sure is, sweetie. Uncle Sasuke was the top of his class when he was in the academy you know?"

The little raven turned to see his uncle, "Really?"

Sasuke just smirked at his little nephew.

"Well," Natsumi interrupted their moment, "Since you've been good and did what I told you, Fuu. I'm going to reward you."

The little boy moved his gaze at his mother again, eyes glinting in anticipation, "Really mom? What is it?"

"I'll let you use _**it**_ for your spar with uncle Sasuke."

The little boy's eyes widened in joy, "REALLY?! You're serious mom?"

"Of course I am honey. As long as you two don't kill each other, I'm fine with it." She smiled at her son.

The boy turned his gaze once more and smirked evilly at his uncle, Sasuke just raised an eyebrow. "Then it would be my pleasure." The little boy lifted two fingers to his face, lining them up to his nose and closed his eyes. Swirls of black and red chakra started gathering around his body, his hair grew longer and his body grew taller. The chakra got sucked back into his now grown-up body, when he opened his eyes, his Sharingan blazed. Sasuke was taken aback by the sudden change. Fuugaku's Sharingan wasn't normal. It had the three comas on the outside but had a tri-blade shuriken symbol separating the comas(13). He looked confusedly at Natsumi, lifting an elegant eyebrow. Natsumi smirked and mouthed 'I'll explain later'.

"Uncle Sasuke, don't go easy on me if you don't want to get hurt." The previously childish voice spoke, replaced by a deep sultry voice, followed by a typical Uchiha smirk.

Sasuke replied by smirking. Typical Uchiha. Fuugaku dropped his hand to his side, in a position as if he was holding a sword. Not long after, the black and red chakra, in the shape of two snakes, slithered down his arms and materialized as a katana when their tails reached his palms. Sasuke's smirk faltered, only to be replaced by his jaw dropping. Fuugaku saw the expression worn by Sasuke and smirked at him.

"Don't worry uncle; I _**am**_ still actually three years old. I'm just using an aging jutsu. I can change back if you don't feel comfortable fighting me in this form."

"Then wouldn't you be unable to use your Sharingan?"

"What are you talking about ji-chan? My Sharingan activated when I was 1 and a half."

Sasuke's eyes just widened in response.

"Come on Sasu-ji. It would be nice if we could spar sometime this century." He rolled his eyes.

Sasuke smirked and took out Kusanagi(14) and restarted their spar. Their spar continued for about an hour and a half. Both of them were tired, if not from the spar itself, it was from the scorching sun. Sasuke was finally unable to fend the younger boy off and had to use Chidori Nagashi(15). Before the lightning was able to hit Fuugaku's body, he retreated to a safe distance with a smirk on his face. When he landed, he held up his right hand facing upwards in a cupping shape. A red ball of chakra started to form in his hands, when the size of the sphere was at its maximum, black lightning formed, surrounding the red ball. Sasuke was in too much shock to even move. Fuugaku started running towards his uncle and shouted a battle cry.

"Chidori-Rasengan!"

Sasuke's eyes widened extensively. His body was unable to move as he felt Fuugaku's genjutsu sucking him in and paralyzing his feet. '_Shit. I'm going to die in the hands of my three year old nephew, who is surprisingly very powerful…Here it comes…3…2…1…' _he thought.

He didn't realize that he actually closed his eyes while counting down to his demise. However, the blow never came. He could still hear the distinct sound of the chidori lightning, but it seemed to be stationary. He opened his eyes and saw Natsumi standing in front of him holding up Fuugaku's arm that had the ball of chakra in it. Natsumi's face was expressionless as she lowered her son's arm, the chakra sphere already reabsorbed into his body.

"That's enough Fuugaku. I told you, you can use your powers, I didn't say you could blow your uncle up into a million pieces."

The boy's body started to shrink into its original height, "Sorry mom, I just got a little excited." His voice back to its original pitch.

"That's okay sweetie, why don't you go inside and take a shower? Apologize to your uncle before you go back."

The little boy turned his gaze from his mother to his uncle. "Sorry Sasu-ji. I didn't mean to blow you up."

"It's okay." Sasuke answered the little tyke, ruffling his hair a bit.

The young boy smiled at his uncle. When Sasuke's hand was lifted off, the little boy ran back towards the mansion, leaving Natsumi and Sasuke alone on the training grounds.

"Would you kindly explain to me why your son is so powerful at such a young age?" Sasuke asked in a low tone.

"I've started training my children ever since they were able to walk."

"…Why?"

"Because at least that way, they don't throw their chakra around, destroying the house." She shrugged.

"…Wh…"

"Come on Suke, let's go in, I'm hungry." She interrupted him before he was able to finish the sentence, she leaned in closer and scrunched up her nose when she could smell the scent of his sweat. She retreated quickly, wafting the bad odor from her nose, "Damn, you _**really**_ need a shower…. Very badly… right now. Let's go." She grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the mansion.

After successfully pushing Sasuke into the en suite bathroom in his room, Natsumi retreated back into her office. A few minutes after she was inside, there was a soft knocking on her door. She told whoever it was to 'come in'. Two men strolled into her office, Haine and Hiro.

"Welcome back, Taichou." Hiro addressed her.

"How were things while I was gone?"

"Everything was fine, captain."

"Thank you for taking care of everyone while I was gone."

"It was no problem, taichou. Please excuse me, captain, I need to tend to the quins. I'm sure you would like to have a private word with Haine."

"Hn. Very well, you're dismissed."

Hiro bowed and exited the office. Natsumi motioned Haine to take a seat.

"So, Haine, what have you gathered?"

"Kabuto is after Sasuke-sama, taichou. He is currently searching for Sasuke-sama's whereabouts. Not only him, but Madara-san is also looking for Sasuke-sama since he never returned with KillerBee's body. Madara-san has caught Naruto-sama and brought him to Pein, Taichou."

"Is that all?"

"Yes captain."

"Then you're dismissed, I need to think."

"Hai."

"Thank you Haine."

Haine just bowed before excusing himself out of the room.

Natsumi just sat in her office thinking for what seemed to last one hour before another soft knock was heard. She was facing the window, the back of her chair facing the door.

"Come in." She said without turning around.

"You not going down for dinner?" Sasuke's husky voice asked.

"I'm not hungry." She said, looking out the window.

"I thought you said you were hungry." He said as he walked around her desk to stand in front of her.

"I changed my mind. I just lost my appetite." She glared at the window.

Sasuke kneeled on her side with a worried look on his face, "Na, are you alright?"

Natsumi finally broke her gaze from the window and turned her head to face him.

"I'm fine." She said with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"Na, I may not have seen you for more than a decade, but I know when you're obviously not alright."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't act dumb, Na. That's Naruto's thing."

She chuckled at his comment, "Suke, I'm fine. Really. I just need to think. You go and enjoy your dinner." She smiled.

"No. If you're not going to tell me what is really going on, I'm not going to leave you here by yourself."

"Stubborn as always ne, Sasu-chan?" She chuckled.

He playfully glared at her for both the comment and the nickname. "Seriously. Tell me what's going on, please?"

Natsumi acted to be shocked, eyes wide and hand covering her gaping mouth, "Oh my gawd, did I just hear THE Uchiha Sasuke say _please_?!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, "Stop changing the subject and just tell me."

"Fine." She sighed, "You need to tell me now where you stand Sasuke."

"…?"

"I can't keep you here and protect you and your team mates if you're going to turn your loyalties again. You have a bad reputation for that already."

"…"

"I need to know whose side you're on Suke. Even though I'm on neither side, I will protect my family and my brother no matter what, even if it means I have to go against you." She said in a serious tone.

"I don't know whose side I'm on. I've achieved what I aimed to do and now I don't have anywhere else to go."

"Don't lie to me Sasuke. I'm not stupid. I can read your mind. You wish to destroy Konoha." She turned to look at him, locking her eyes in his, her Sharingan spinning wildly. "Don't get me wrong Sasuke, you mean a lot to me, but if you **ever** hurt my brother again, I will kill you." Her Sharingan deactivated immediately, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "You know what Naruto's body possesses, yes?"

"Yes"

"Then I'm sure you know that the Akatsuki are after him."

"… Yes."

"So tell me Sasuke, whose side are you on?"

"…"

"Fine, have it your way." She rose from her seat, leaving Sasuke flabbergasted. "I'm going away on a mission. Tell Haine if you need anything."

"… You're going alone?"

"The mission I'm going on is too dangerous for anyone else to come with."

"But…"

"Haine will know where I am." She said as she grabbed her katana and skull pendant, turning away from Sasuke to face the window.

"Na…"

"Goodbye Sasuke." She interrupted him as she was gone in a flash.

_Flashback_

"_Taichou" Haine addressed her, "What should we do?"_

"_**We**__ will not be doing anything, Haine. I will go to Rain alone."_

"_What? Taichou, that is too dangerous."_

"_You underestimate me fukutaichou. Have you forgotten why I became captain? I do not want any of my squad members getting hurt unnecessarily."_

"_But Taichou…"  
_

"_No 'but's Haine. I will go and that's final." She said sternly, banging her hands on the desk as she stood from her chair. "While I'm gone, I want you to take care of the others. This is my battle. I'm the one that had been assigned to take care of my brother. And now they have captured him. I need to get him back. I can't let him die like this. It's not his time."_

"…"

"_I will go tonight."_

_Haine just nodded in agreement._

_End of Flashback_


	8. Chapter 7

Previously on The Uchiha Pride

"_I will go tonight."_

_Haine just nodded in agreement._

_End of Flashback_

Chapter 7

Natsumi kept running, stepping from branch to branch in the dark of the night. Her eyes glowed with Byakugan to allow her to see in the dark. She ran for hours, not taking a break until the afternoon of the next day. She stopped at a small village to rest and bathe. The village was filled with people and stalls; apparently there was a festival going on. She stopped at an inn with a bath house. After she checked in, she got changed and wrapped a towel around her body and went to the baths.

She took the towel off and stepped into the steamy hot bath. Luckily everyone was out at the festival so she could take her bath in peace. She leaned back on a rock at the side of the tub, sighed deeply and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.

_Flashback/Dream Sequence Start_

_Natsumi and Itachi stood inside the cave behind a waterfall, both thinking silently while staring through the waterfall, each in their own little world of thought. Itachi was the first to break the silence._

"_Na, I want you to promise me something."_

"_Promise what?" She turned to face him in confusion._

"_Please don't hate Sasuke when I die in his hands."_

_She turned away once more, releasing a deep sigh, "I won't hate him for it, what goes on between you two is not my business to meddle with."_

"_Thank you Na." He smiled at her._

"_Ne, Tachi, I need to tell you something."_

"_Huh? What?" He raised an eyebrow._

"_I'm pregnant again." She said, looking at her feet._

_Itachi could only stare. This was only her third pregnancy and yet they already had seven children._

"_Don't look at me like that." She rolled her eyes and smiled at him._

_Itachi smiled back and drifted into thought._

"…_chi…achi…ITACHI!" Natsumi waived her hands furiously in front of Itachi's face. _

_Itachi finally snapped out of his thought and looked at Natsumi seriously._

"_Tachi, are you alright?" She asked him in worry._

"_Natsumi," _

_Natsumi was taken aback. Itachi only ever called her Natsumi when he was either angry or about to give her horrible news. She didn't know what to expect though._

"_Y-yeah?" She replied him nervously._

"_After I'm gone…I want you to move on with your life."_

"…_?"_

"_As soon as you can."_

"_What?" She asked in confusion. _

"_I know you love me, but not in that way."_

"_Not this again Tachi." She sighed aloud. "How many times must I tell you that…"_

"_No, Nana. I know, I've __always__ known how you feel about Sasuke. The look on your face every time he's ever mentioned changes. You brighten up, even more than your usual self. You cannot possibly lie to my face and say that's not true."_

"_Tachi, he's my __best friend__, nothing more. Besides, I'm married to you."_

"_That's exactly what I'm talking about, Na."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_You love me as my wife because you are obliged to, not because you really do. I know you love me, but as more like a sister rather than a lover. You and I both know that, but with Sasuke, you're different. With him, you're in love with him; you love him as much more than a brother or a best friend."_

"…_?"_

"_I feel horrible forcing you into a marriage you don't exactly feel the same about. I know you thought it was alright to marry me because you felt as though you love me. But when I'm gone, I want you to be happy and if that means forgetting about me."_

"_Tachi…"_

"_Please Nana, this is all I ask of you. Please, promise me."_

"_I… Fine. I promise." She sighed dejectedly._

_End of Flashback/ Dream Sequence_

Natsumi opened her eyes slowly and sighed deeply. It had been a while since she remembered that talk with Itachi. She honestly did love Itachi but what she felt for Sasuke was different. Maybe it was just a silly childhood crush that she couldn't forget about. After all, Sasuke was her first love. She thought about it for a few minutes before concluding that maybe, just maybe, her priorities now lay elsewhere, she has a family of her own now, children she needed to look after and a brother to save. Wait a minute, a brother to save?! OH MY GOD! She totally forgot! What was she doing here relaxing in hot onsen bath when she should be saving her brother's ass?!

She quickly got out of the bath and got herself ready to continue her journey, not noticing the pair of swirling red eyes that followed her movements.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Natsumi reached Rain country sooner than she expected. She knew there would be a lot of obstacles before she can reach Naruto. She took a deep breath and positioned her hands for Kage Bushin, creating more than a hundred clones of herself and telling them to move out and 'take care' of any obstacles they meet. She blended herself in the mass of clones and concentrated on tracking her brother's scent. No matter how long she hasn't seen him for, she always knew his scent. It was one of the twin bonds they share. No matter how long they have been separated for, they can always find each other, if the other doesn't mask their tracks of course.

Natsumi easily sniffed out Naruto's scent, after all Naruto wasn't well known for the number one hyper and unexpected shinobi for nothing. She followed the track, making sure again that nobody was tampering with the scent. After a few minutes, she found herself at a coliseum-type building. Half of it was already destroyed, probably from a prior battle. She stepped in the centre of the fighting arena, closed her eyes and waited while restoring a bit of her chakra while she waited for the Pein's to arrive.

One by one the Pein's gathered around her, while she still closed her eyes. When the last of them landed silently, she opened her eyes calmly and smirked.

"Hn. Took you a while." She eyed the main one. "Nagato." She continued.

"Never thought you would betray us Natsumi." He replied coldly.

"Well you're not exactly innocent of betrayal either are you?" She lifted an eyebrow.

"Touché." Nagato smirked. "So are you going to play hero and save your brother from our clutches all by your lonesome self." He mocked.

"I'm not playing hero or anything of the sort. I'm simply fulfilling my role; after all, this is what I was born to do." She stated, "Now, if you would please bring out by brother so I can apologize to him while I still can."

"Oh, how touching. We figured you would want to see your brother before we all kill you. So we had him prepared to watch us slowly and painfully kill you in front of him, after all, he missed your first death, why not let him see your death with his own eyes." A fatter, more cockier Pein cackled.

Natsumi simply ignored the man and waited for Konan to show up with Naruto. She was shocked to see him, chained up and drained of chakra. She knew Naruto was a powerful sage now but not even a sage can take on that many powerful enemies on his own. Naruto was even more shocked to see his supposedly dead twin sister. What the heck was going on? Why is she here?

She looked directly into his eyes to make sure he was the real Naruto and not just a clone. She telepathically gave him a message and he understood without showing any physical gestures before turning her gaze back to the Pein that she was addressing.

_Let's take these assholes down, Naruto._

The twins' charkas flared and Naruto's chains simply fell off him. Natsumi's prior clones all dispelled after dealing with the rogue nins around the city. She smirked before her chakra flares separated into 10 large black and yellow stripped tails, her eyes becoming golden with black slits, her hair returning to its original golden shade. She used her power as the Juubi to awaken Naruto's demonic powers without Naruto losing control of his body.

The seven Pein's and Konan were completely astonished. The legendary and mythical Juubi had been Namikaze Natsumi this entire time.

Naruto dealt with Konan and fought her in his sage mode, powered by Kyuubi's never ending chakra supply while Natsumi dealt with the seven Pein's. Natsumi easily raised her right arm up and concentrated. Her opponents started to feel intense pain as their 'piercings' that allowed them to communicate with each other and allow them to read their opponent's moves, like the Sharingan. The pain intensified as each piercing that was in fact a black magnetic stick was forcefully pulled out of their bodies and shot towards Natsumi's stretched out palm, liquefying before it reached its destination. After all the piercings were taken out, she threw the black ball of liquid magnet into the air before blowing it up. Naruto had easily killed Konan while all this happened. Naruto joined his sister's side when he had made sure Konan was dead. They fought together each of the now less powerful Pein's. They were still tough to fight since they still had their Rinnengan.

The fight had gone on for hours and the two siblings had finally killed their last opponent. Both of them were exhausted to say the least but they forced themselves to endure it and complete their mission.

_Clap clap clap._

The two blondes looked in the direction of the clapping and found themselves facing a tall man in an orange mask.

"Bravo." The man mocked.

The siblings growled.

"I guess I was right. It is not a good idea to mess with such powerful siblings. The infamous Namikaze twins. A Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and the mystical Juubi herself. In the flesh. I had been waiting my entire life to live for this moment." The man continued.

"Uchiha Madara." She spat out.

Naruto's eyes widened. Uchiha Madara was one of the founding fathers of Konoha. If the man in the orange swirly mask was Uchiha Madara, that would make him more than a hundred years old. _No way._

"I'm surprised you remember me Namikaze-san."

"Well, I should remember you, besides, if you didn't summon Kyuubi, I wouldn't even have been born." She smirked.

"Hn."

"Enough chit chat, let's get down to business shall we?" She stepped in front of Naruto and blocked him away from Madara. "Naruto, this is my fight and I will fight alone. I can feel Sasuke's presence nearby, go and tell him to not interfere either." Naruto nodded, "Naruto, I'm sorry I lied to you all these years."

Naruto simply grinned like he always did, "It's no time for apologies sis, you have some old Uchiha ass to kick." He joked.

Natsumi smiled without turning to look at her brother, already knowing what his expression was behind her, "Thanks Naru."

Naruto smiled back before he poofed to the top of the coliseum just as Sasuke landed beside him. Naruto stopped Sasuke before he had a chance to move down to help Natsumi.

"Teme, it's her fight, we shouldn't interfere." Naruto said in a serious tone, without looking at his long time rival.

"Are you kidding me? Do you know who she's up against?" Sasuke gritted through his teeth.

"I know who he is, but we should respect her wishes. She doesn't want us interfering." Naruto replied, still in a serious tone.

Sasuke was beyond pissed, but held back.

Natsumi took her stance, "Give me all you got, Uchiha." She challenged.

Madara smirked as he took off his mask, showing off his Sharingan. "I will _Uchiha_."

Natsumi's slitted eyes turned red with her own Sharingan, the pupil still slitted. She held two fingers to her face and transformed into her most powerful form. Her body was surrounded by swirling black and yellow chakra while her 10 chakra tails waved around her backside. Her extremely large zanpakuto that usually resides on her back had compressed into a thin black sword, its chains still hanging from the end of the hilt.

"Very impressive." Madara mocked.

Natsumi simply lifted her sword arm up and pointed its end at Madara, "Getsuga Tenshou." A large black and red blast erupted from the tip of the sword in Madara's direction. Madara got away in time, unfortunately (for him) losing function of his left arm and his left leg when the blast had missed its original target of his heart. His entire side of the coliseum had been destroyed along with another kilometre of buildings and roads in the direction of the blast. Madara, Sasuke and Naruto were in total awe. How can one blast be so unbelievably powerful?

Natsumi smirked, "That would be my _weakest_ shot by the way."

Their fight continued for another few hours, Madara was by far the strongest opponent she has ever faced. His 'immortality' and time controlling powers just added to the fact that he was the most powerful Uchiha that has ever lived. Natsumi had finally tired him down enough to be able to kill him for good. Once she was definitely sure he had died, she let a smile on her face and mumbled to herself, "Mission complete." She instantly fell down, her soul leaving her body the moment she muttered those words. She missed the looks on the boys' faces when they rushed to her dead body when they saw her fall.

Her soul was back in her Shinigami uniform, gathering her strength to summon the gates of hell while she held on to the chains Madara's soul was encased in. She felt relief washing over her. She had waited and trained for more than a hundred years for this moment and she had finally done it. She sighed in relief as she handed Madara's soul to the messengers of hell.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Sasuke were screaming and shaking Natsumi's lifeless body. Both of the stoic boys were reduced to tears, screaming for her to come back to life.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

- 5 Years Later –

After Natsumi's (second) death, Naruto had tried to bring back Sasuke to Konoha with his team but of course Sasuke refused. Sasuke had allowed only Naruto to follow him to Natsumi's house, while he carried her battle torn lifeless body with him. When they reached the estate, Naruto was completely shocked, what shocked him more was the little children that happened to look like himself and Sasuke running around and training. Sasuke had explained everything in so little words to Naruto and told the blonde that since Naruto had to go back to Konoha and Sasuke himself had no obligation to go back at any time soon, Sasuke decided to stay in the estate to take care of Natsumi's children, since he still had some scores to settle with a few other enemies. Naruto understood and went back to Konoha and explained everything to Tsunade only, keeping the secret from everyone else.

Not long after, the two elders of the council and Danzou had supposedly 'died in their sleep' in a consecutive period of two weeks. Tsunade retired and became an elder, leaving the Hokage position to Naruto, who got married with Gaara's third cousin, a beautiful red-head with jade green eyes. Everyone was shocked, it was like Yondaime's life had relived itself; he became Hokage and married a green-eyed redhead. During his inauguration, Tsunade finally told Naruto about his family background. He was in tears when he found out, but he and his wife, had agreed on changing Naruto's family name back to Namikaze, in honor of his late father. They had 4 beautiful children together in the course of the years.

Sasuke however, never got himself married. He legally adopted his nieces and nephews as his own children. Haine had tracked Kabuto/Orochimaru down and Sasuke took his team Hawk, that had still stayed together in Natsumi's estate, went to Kabuto/Orochimaru and killed him for good. Karin had gotten over her infatuation with Sasuke and amazingly got hitched with Suigetsu and had three children together. Juugo had learned to control his curse mark with the help from Sasuke and Haine, he is now one of the children's legal guardians.

Naruto had offered all of them to come and live in Konoha with open arms, he had rebuilt the Uchiha district to look like the estate. It took a bit of convincing on Sasuke's part but since the children were excited to the bone to live in a new village that their other uncle is Hokage of, simply put, Sasuka had no say in the matter. Sasuke sighed and followed his children's demands. They packed everything and moved to Konoha into the new Uchiha district, leaving the estate as a holiday home instead. Team Hawk's members, Karin, Suigetsu (and their new family) and Juugo had also moved there with them, along with Natsumi's assistants.

Now it had been around 3 years since they first moved to Konoha. No one saw what was coming next though.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She walked through the gates of Konoha, wearing a long black cloak with the hood covering her face. She smiled through her hood as she was stopped by the guards. Izumo was the one that spoke to her.

"What business do you have in Konoha?"

"Family." She smiled.

"What is your name?"

"Uchiha Natsumi." She grinned as she took the hood off her head, revealing her sparkling azure eyes and long blonde tresses.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_Knock knock knock_

"Come in." Naruto spoke, not even bothering to look up from his paperwork, a habit that he came across since he started doing paperwork (kinda familiar, don't you think?).

"Wow, THE Namikaze Naruto _actually_ doing paperwork. I'm impressed brother." She smirked.

Naruto instantly dropped the pen he was holding and stood up abruptly, without looking at his guest. His mind was flooded with a million things, all hopeful that this guest was who he thought she was.

"Nana" He silently muttered, still not looking up.

"I'm glad you remember me Naru." She grinned.

Naruto leapt from where he stood and instantly wrapped his arms around the guest, burying his head in her shoulders and silently crying as he hugged her tighter.

"Nana." He whispered as tears rolled down his face and on to her shoulder.

She wrapped her arms around her brother and drew circles on his back, comforting him and hushing him from his crying.

When he finished crying, he pulled away from her and cupped her face, looking straight into her eyes.

"Nana, is it really you?" He shakily asked.

All the response he got was a nod and a breathtaking smile that he hasn't seen for the longest time. "Your face looks great on Hokage Mountain."

They both giggled.

"I missed you. We all missed you." He hugged her again.

"I missed all of you too. I see your doing well, your dreams have all been accomplished ne?"

"Yeah." He grinned back.

"Becoming Hokage, bringing Sasuke back, having a family of your own. I'm really happy for you Naru."

"Speaking of Sasuke." Naruto started, "He's missed you the most. He refused to marry anyone. He even adopted your children as his own."

Natsumi smiled at her brother.

"They live in the newly rebuilt Uchiha District." He smirked.

She just rolled her eyes. "Wow you're subtle."

"I won't be surprised if he faints just by seeing you. I mean how many times can one see the person they love come back from the dead? Over and over again?" He sarcastically added.

"Shut up." She pouted playfully.

"I'll come over tonight with my family. We have a big family dinner every Friday night." He grinned. "So I'll see you later okay?"

"Okay." She smiled as she poofed out of Naruto's office.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sasuke was tending to the garden by himself as he waited for the kids to get back home from the academy and from training. Everyone else was out running errands, Karin and Suigetsu went out of town for their anniversary honeymoon.

Sasuke heard footsteps approaching him, he couldn't trace the person's chakra, obviously whoever it was hid it, and quickly he grabbed his kunai from his weapon holder on his upper thigh. When he could feel the intruder get close enough to be in his shooting range, he turned and stood, his Sharingan active as he held the kunai at the person's throat. The person smirked and looked into his eyes, with her own Sharingan active. It took Sasuke a while to figure out who the person was. After he recognized her, his red eyes widened as he dropped the kunai to the ground with a thud.

"N-Nana?" He stuttered, "H-how is it possible?" He lifted his hand to stroke her face, to make sure that it wasn't just an illusion.

"The how isn't important. What's important is that I'm back." She smiled.

Sasuke instantly hugged her tightly, "Don't ever leave me again." He whispered as quietly as he could, hoping she didn't hear it.

"I won't." She hugged back.

Sasuke blushed, "Oh, I mean don't leave _us _again." He flustered, correcting himself.

She only giggled in response, "So, I heard you adopted all of my children. Is it true?"

"Yeah, it's not like they can raise themselves, losing both parents and all." He shrugged.

"Thanks." She smiled.

"So you're really still alive?"

"Yeah. I think it's time you knew my secret."

He raised an eyebrow.

"You are curious as to why I'm still alive aren't you?"

He nodded a little.

"I'm a shinigami. So death doesn't really bother me, although the pain is still real." She snickered.

"What?"

"It still hurts when I die, unless I die in my sleep of course." She shrugged.

"No, not that, I meant the shinigami part. You're a soul reaper?" He frowned.

"Well so are a lot of other people but when you die in the spirit realm, you're reborn into the human world without any knowledge of your previous spirit life. I still remember my life there since I never died or anything like that. I actually came to earth reborn as a mission, because the giant fur ball was summoned by your ancestor."

"Giant fur ball?"

"Kyuubi, he's usually harmless, but since he was my pet when I was back in the spirit realm but he suddenly disappeared so I went looking for him, of course Haine had told me Madara summoned him. Kyuubi doesn't like being ordered around, not even by me, and I've had him since he was just born."

"Haine is a shinigami? So you're saying I am a shinigami in my previous life too?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah he is and yeah you were, one of the best actually." She grinned.

"Did we… know each other?" He nervously asked.

Her grin instantly faltered, she looked away from him and smiled sadly, "Yeah, we did."

"Were we… more than friends?" He asked, noticing her change in mood.

"W-we…" She stuttered, her eyes starting to water from the memories flashing right before her eyes.

"Nana?" He worriedly shook her a bit as he saw her tremble violently, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably. Her body suddenly stopped shaking as it fell limp in his arms. Sasuke shook her again to get her attention, but her body was already in unconsciousness.

Sasuke carried his love inside the house straight away and set her down on his bed. He stroked her cheeks lovingly as her face scrunched up in pain, sweat covering her forehead as the tears continued to stream down her cheeks. "_Sasuke_" she whispered from her semi-comatose state.

"Shh, I'm right here."

"_Don't leave me._"

"I won't leave you, I promise." He kissed her forehead lovingly as he cooed her to stop crying.

_Flashback/Dream_

_The entire city was close to being burnt down, Aizen, the traitor of Soul Society, had sent all his goons to destroy the place. All the captains and vice-captains dealt with the stronger ones, most were already done fighting their now deceased opponents. Sasuke had to deal with the most powerful of them all, Aizen, since he had scores to settle with the spectacled man. Aizen had brutally murdered his clan, right in front of his eyes. Sasuke was hell bent on avenging his clan. However, Sasuke had severely underestimated Aizen. Even though Aizen was practically on his death bed… death grass… he was still a sneak. Aizen had stabbed Sasuke through the chest in the last minute, what Sasuke didn't know was that the sword was covered with deadly poison that Aizen himself created. Aizen died with an evil smile on his face, watching Sasuke struggle with the poison._

_Natsumi had just reached the site where Aizen and Sasuke fought, her eyes widened as she saw her husband on the ground, face contorted in pain, she had a fair idea of what happened to him, she quickly ran to his side, trying to keep her tears at bay._

"_Sa…sasuke… Hold on… Someone will come." She stuttered._

_Sasuke laughed lightly, coughing while he tried to laugh, "No, Nana, even if they come, they can't help. There is no cure for Aizen's poison." He wiped away a stray tear that fell down his wife's cheek._

"_No! They will be able to help! They have to! Don't leave me Sasuke! Please! Just hold on." _

_He smiled at her, "It's okay Nana. You'll be alright without me."_

"_No, Sasuke, please, just hold on! I can't lose you! Please don't leave me alone! I'm pregnant! How am I supposed to raise a baby by myself?" She wailed, holding his other hand._

_Sasuke slowly moved his hand down to her still flat stomach, "At least I'm not leaving you alone, ne?" He coughed again, this time blood. "I guess I don't have long to live anymore. I want you to know, I've always and always will love you." He said with a smile on his face as his vision faded to blackness._

"_Sasuke? SASUKE??!! NOOO!!! Sasuke, come back, don't do this to me! Please I'm begging you! SASUKEE!!!!" She cried as she tried to shake his evaporating body. She tried to keep a hold of the body as it disintegrated into the air. Natsumi had stayed in her position the entire time, sobbing while she stayed on the ground._

_A few of the men from her squad, Haine, Hiro and the others (that are currently residing in the Uchiha estate) had tried to get her to get up but she wouldn't budge. She just stayed there, gazing at her empty hands in horror, tears running down her face like waterfalls. Haine had crouched down and tried to comfort his captain but she wouldn't stop crying. He lifted her bridal style and they all transported themselves to her house. He set her on the bed and told the maids to take care of her._

_Haine sat on the bed and cupped Natsumi's face to make her see him, "Taichou, I know you're hurting right now because you just lost the man you love, but I want you to be strong okay? Be strong for your unborn child and for your team, taichou. I have to go rebuild the destroyed buildings. I'll be back to check on you later, ne?"_

_Natsumi just stayed silent, her tears all dried up by now. She nodded in response, Haine smiled and left her to have some time to think._

_The years went by quickly, unfortunately Natsumi's pregnancy had fallen through, and because of that she went into even deeper depression since the death of her husband. It wasn't until 50 years later that Haine had had enough of her moping, coincidentally, her brother had been reborn for a mission to be the container of Kyuubi, Haine had told the captain commander and he officially sent her to earth to take care of Kyuubi, Madara and the Akatsuki organization. Haine had requested for her memories of the past that had been traumatizing for her to be erased temporarily, until she was ready to handle her past memories again._

_Natsumi felt the world spin as she was sent to the human realm, her world turned pitch black. _This is it; I have to leave my pasts behind me.

_End of Flashback/Dream_

Natsumi slowly opened her blue orbs, her mind still reeling with her past memories. She hadn't ever remembered the traumas of her past life, even though she remembered everything else. It's no wonder she had a strange attraction towards Sasuke since she was young. She felt as if they were destined for each other since they first met, which was when they were 3 years old. She finally took the time to scan her surroundings, and realized she was in a bedroom, on a soft bed. She couldn't remember what had happened yesterday, the last thing she remembered she was chatting with Sasuke.

_Sasuke…_


End file.
